Rachel Entrekin made ultrarunning history on Wednesday, becoming the first woman ever to win the Cocodona 250 outright. The runner from Conifer, Colorado, crossed the finish line in Heritage Square, Flagstaff, in 56:09:50, finishing first in the entire 400-plus-runner field and nearly ten miles ahead of the next finisher.
The result also breaks her own women’s course record, which she set last year at 63 hours, 50 minutes and 55 seconds. Her time also goes inside Dan Green’s overall course record of 58:47:18, set in 2025.
The Cocodona 250, organised by Aravaipa Running, covers just over 253 miles and roughly 39,000 feet of climbing through central Arizona. Entrekin won the women’s race in 2024 and 2025, finishing fourth overall a year ago. This year she went one step further.
She was in front from the start.
Out front from Crown King
She reached the Crown King aid station at mile 37 in 6 hours and 47 minutes, just ahead of reigning 200-mile Triple Crown champion Kilian Korth and 2022 Cocodona winner Joe McConaughy. According to Jonathan Turner of Run247, that split was 12 minutes faster than her time there a year earlier.
She kept pulling away. By Whiskey Row she had a 20-minute lead on Korth. At Jerome, 23 hours and 26 minutes into the race, the gap was over half an hour and she was three hours inside her own 2025 pace.
Korth made a serious push on day two. The deficit he carried out of Jerome held steady to Munds Park more than 15 hours later. By Kelly Canyon it had shrunk to seven minutes, with Cody Poskin moving into third place about two hours back.
That was as close as Korth got. Run247 reported he was dealing with a glute issue heading into the next section. Entrekin covered the stretch to Fort Tuthill in one hour and 50 minutes. Korth took three.
By Wildcat Hill, the second-to-last aid station, the lead was back out to nearly two hours. From there she ran it home.
Across more than two days on the course, Entrekin posted a 4.5 mph route average and a 5.3 mph moving average, with around five hours of total stopped time. Her TrackLeaders splits show steady, controlled pacing through the second night and into the final day.
However, the 2026 edition was not without loss. It was reported earlier in the event that a runner died during the race. Race officials have not yet released full details.
