Erin Quinn

The only thing that could make this year’s Cocodona 250 more competitive would be if Killian Jornet and Katie Schide took a red-eye flight from Europe to Phoenix and snuck up to the starting line at Black Canyon Ranch.  

The list of people getting ready to bear down on the 5^th annual Cocodona 250 is like a who’s who of ultrarunning royalty, particularly those who specialize in the 200+mile distances. Yes, ultrarunning has evolved to the point where there are now individuals, several of them who are lining up at Black Canyon Ranch at 5am Monday, May 5^th, who are 200+mile specialists. It was only a few years ago when the 200+mile distances were something so remote and obscure that few people even knew they existed. The 100-mile distance was the gold standard and Western States or Hardrock or UTMB (In Europe) were the races that received 90 percent of the hype for all of ultrarunning is quite an umbrella as it covers everything from 50K’s to several hundred-mile races and everything in between. (An ultra, by definition, is any distance greater than the standard 26.2-mile marathon. )

THE HYPE IS BUILDING

In just 5 years, Jamil Coury, owner of Aravaiapa Running, and the brainchild of the Cocodona 250—, has turned this event into one of the most anticipated and hyped trail-running races in the world. There are professional athletes on both the men’s and women’s including Courtney Dauwalter and Coree Woltering as well as social media trail-running influencers like California firefighter, Andrew Glaze (who has been running 100-miles a week for the past 267 weeks straight,) Callie Vinson (a body-positive Indigenous female runner, who lost 200pds on her journey to becoming an ultrarunner.)

THE VISION, THE COURSE, THE LIVESTREAM

The race, which began in 2021, runs from the rugged Bradshaw Mountains north of Phoenix to Whiskey Row in downtown Prescott, across the Verde Valley and the Black Hills, the red rocks of Sedona up to the Coconino Plateau and finishes in Heritage Square in the center of Flagstaff, the hip, trail running Mecca.

Not only are more than 275 people attempting to run from Phoenix to Flagstaff in one push, but the event is live-streamed and broadcasted 24 hours a day for 5 straight days until the last runner has crossed the finish line. They have 125 hours to complete the race and people are glued to the livestream, the live chat and spot-trackers the entire week from Monday to Friday.

Coury’s vision was to find a way to tie together some of the most iconic towns and cities in his home state of Arizona. These include the wild mountain town of Crown King, the boasts the oldest operating saloon in America as well as the mining town turned artist-enclave in Jerome, the popular tourist spot and hikers’ heaven in Sedona, to the rough and tumble Whiskey Row along an historic street in Prescott and of course hard-fought summit of Mt. Elden that once descended, lands runners into Flagstaff known as a gateway to the Grand Canyon but also as an outdoor lovers and star-gazers paradise as it was the first International Dark Sky City. Coury and his friends planned this in 2019, using maps and reconnaissance runs and literally knocking on doors and asking for permits that would allow them to have runners move through both private and public lands, through a wild and diversified system of trails, jeep roads and ranch land that traverse several different biomes and landscapes from the Sonoran Desert to the Coconino Plateau which is home to the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine Forest in the world.

Yes, there are beautiful stretches along the route. But there are also brutal sections where runners have to climb up a pile of rocks for 10,000ft in the first 36 miles of the race. There are A-framed ladders on ranch land where they have to hop over barbed-wire and a stretch of glass and rusted aluminum cans and beer caps mixed in with sharp rocks that the participants have to run down under a power line. There are tunnels and canyons and sketchy, exposed climbs as well as suburban streets and Christian camps, hotel bars and race-track parking lots that not only need to be run through but often serve as sites for aid stations.

It’s a wild ride and because of the popularity of the livestream the combination of having runners move through both extremely remote areas as well as dropping them into towns and cities and possibly the sheer will of Coury to make this week a sort of festival that celebrates not only trail-running but Arizona itself, has catapulted the Cocodona 250 into the ultrarunning stratosphere. It is a part in the desert and one that goes on into the wee hours of the night, for days and nights on end. Runners hallucinate, cry, fall, get hypothermia and dehydration, blisters, chafing, and nauseous. They also get to experience the raw beauty of Arizona, the comradery of the other runners, their pacers and crews if they have them, the volunteers that act as trail angels all along the route and of course the deep sense of satisfaction that they were able to run, 250-miles, in one push, on their own two feet.

THE COMPETITION

Each year the competition levels up and last year the men’s race was so hot that they created a film about it called The Chase, which just dropped a few days ago.

This year what can people expect? A barnburner. On the women’s side we have arguably the greatest female ultrarunner of all time, Courtney Dauwalter, taking her first shot at the Cocodona 250. Beside winning and setting course records at the prestigious Western States 100, the Hardrock 100 and UTMB (just to name a few) Dauwalter also won the Moab 240 in 2017, setting the course record and beating the next competitor, male or female by over 10 hours. She also didn’t sleep except for a 1-minute trail nap in 3 days. She’s also come in first on the women’s side and 2^nd overall at the Tahoe 200. While she’s known for her repeated 100-mile victories in both North America and at the most competitive ultras around the world, Dauwalter is also a great 200+mile runner. She has mountain legs for the climbs, she has speed for the flatter sections and she has endurance that knows no bounds.

We also have two of the previous Cocodona 250 winners of the women’s side including last year’s winner, Rachel Entriken and the 2023 winner, Sarah Ostasszewski, who just came off a big win at the Moab 240 in October of 2024. Then there’s the 200+distance specialize, Mika Thewes, who has won the Tahoe 200, Big Foot 200 (where she set the course record) and came in 3d at Cocodona last year after sleeping for 24 hours to recover from a fall. There is also Lindsey Dwyer, a multiple 100-mile race champion and Georgia Porter, of Flagstaff, who recently set the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Arizona Trail.  While this is a hot field, and anything can happen, I’m going with:

1. Courtney Dauwalter
2. Sarah Ostaszewiski
3. Mika Thewes

I also believe that Dauwalter will win the entire race outright and set the course record (CR.)

But let’s dive into the front pack for the men. There are 3 past winners in this year’s field including Michael McKnight, the raw-milk drinking, meat-eating, Christ-loving, weight-lifting, father and husband from Utah who won the race two years ago, came in 2^nd 4 years ago. McKnight is also the winningest 200+mile runner on the men’s side in North America. He’s won Big Foot 200, Moab 240, Tahoe 200 and the Triple Crown (all 3 added together) several different years. He also went from 65^th place to 1^st place in that 2023 race where I began dubbing him as The Dark Night.

Then there is Michael Versteeg, a Prescott native, who won the inaugural race (where they ran out of water and people were dropping like flies in the first 50K alone.) Versteeg is part poet, part desert rat, part ultra-philosopher who shies away from the spotlight but who the spotlight is always trying to capture. He has a sinewy body and long hair and has been known to run part of the race tripping on mushrooms and other parts in sandals. He’s crowd favorite.

Last year’s winner, Harry Subertas, originally from Lithuania, who set a CR in a time of 59:50.55 is also returning again hoping to defend his title. Last year it was a nail-biter of a race with Subertas hunting down Jeff Browning, who had been in the lead for well over 150 miles. He caught him with only 2-miles to go as Browning was suffering from some sort of pulmonary edema. It was a dramatic finish and an emotional one with both men hugging each other at the finish line. (All of this can be seen in The Chase.)

Subertas has also been on a roll recently winning this year’s Triple Crown, after having won the Cocodona 250. If that wasn’t steep enough, throw into the mix Max Jollifie, the proudly 12-stepping sober skateboarder turned ultrarunner from Southern California who tore up the Moab 240 this past October with a new course record. While Browning, 53, one of the most winningest 100-mile ultrarunners in the world (second only to Karl Meltzer,) is not running this year due to his preparation for Western States 100, one of his athletes, Jesse Haynes, also 53, will be taking on Cocodona this year. Haynes won the Moab 240 in 2023 after battling it out for Jeff Pelletier who was closing on him the last several miles. Haynes is not a household ultra-name but he’s been around the game a long time and is steady, wise, seasoned and gritty as all hell.

Of all the 200+mile races, the Moab 240 is probably the closest simulation to Cocodona with its slick rock, red rocks, desert running and forest climbs. But it’s much more remote and doesn’t have the number of aid-stations and crew access or forays into civilization that Cocodona does, it has the equivalent amount of climbing and relatively comparable climates throughout the race.

Then there’s Jack Scott who recently won The Spine, a brutal 200+mile race, almost all unsupported, in the winter, in the UK. Those in the ultrarunning scene believe that Scott could take the entire thing as well.

This list doesn’t even take into consideration the professional, 100-mile specialists like Coree Woltering, Ryan Sandes of South Africa, or Dan Green of West Virginia. They could have a 200+mile glow up or they could burn bright for the first 100K and flame out.

My dark horse in the men’s race is Jeff Garmire, who has come in 5^th or 6^th in this race every year since its’ inception. Once an FKT-setting thru-hiker, Garmire has more recently been focused on ultrarunning, improving his speed and strength, all the while coaching athletes and launching a podcast, The Free Outside. He knows the course almost better than anyone and he’s fitter than he’s ever been.

Top 3

1. Harry Subertas
2. Mike McKnight
3. Jesse Haynes

I feel less certain on the men’s side than I do the women’s side and I could throw at least 8 more names into that Top 3 list that would make sense, including all those mentioned above and some not mentioned who I will bring up now.

The Media

There are a handful of ultrarunning podcasters in the field who could also be in the top 10. These include the above-mentioned Jeff Garmire, of The Free Outside, Kevin Goldberg, co-host of Distance to Empty, Finn Melanson of The Single Track podcast and Andy Jones-Wilkins host of Crack a Brew with AJW. Add to this list is the uber-popular podcast host, author, bow-hunter and the creator of the Keep Hammering Collective, Cameron Hanes of Oregon.

Hanes, 57, who is also good friends and training buddies with Dauwalter is also no stranger to the 200+mile distance as he has completed the Moab 240 and Bigfoot 200 among many other shorter, ultramarathons. His younger brother, Taylor Spike, just secured 2^nd place in the inaugural Arizona Monster 300-miler that took place in southern Arizona in April.

Garmire and Melanson and Goldberg all cracked the Top 10 last year and have been podcasting about the race and interviewing athletes who are toeing the line. AJW, 57, has a storied ultra career, all in the 100-mile distances, and will be taking his first crack at the 200+mile distance with two hip replacements. An Arizonian and a well-known and beloved ultrarunning commentator and writer, AJW probably talked for no less than 60-hours on the livestream last year. He too, knows the course, and while he might not be Top 10, he could have a fantastic race.

I may tip my hat towards Garmire for the “Fastest Podcaster Award,” although I’m not keeping my eyes off of Goldberg or Melanson and I’ll be rooting for AJW and Hanes as well.

There’s another sub-story here which includes the Fab 5. These are the runners who ran and completed each of the four years that Cocodona has been in existence and are lining up Monday morning for their 5^th attempt at this grueling race. These include Garmire, Andrew Glaze (the firefighter and ultrarunning influencer) Wes Plate (an ultrarunning race-director and documentary filmmaker,) Jose Cosas and Aaron Fleisher. They received a surprise 1000-mile belt buckle from Coury recently to celebrate and honor their achievement and now they’re getting ready for a 5^th rodeo.

There’s the front pack, the social media influencers, the ultrarunning podcasters, the Fab 5 and several other storylines including the Chisholm family that took the race by storm last year. They’re a thru-hiking family from New Hampshire that homeschool their children and had come to help crew a friend two years ago, enjoyed the atmosphere so much that the mom and one of her son’s ran the race with the rest of the family tag-teaming to crew and pace them both.  Brody Chisholm, then 17, came in 11^th place in his first ultra ever. His mom, Jenny Chisholm, 48 came in 17^th last year in her first ultra-attempt. Both are set to head out on the Black Canyon Trail early Monday morning to begin their 2^nd foray into Cocodona 250.

A few people to keep an eye out for are Shelby Farrell, 34, who has paced several elite athletes to the finish at Cocodona including past winner, Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy and professional trail-runner, author and motivational speaker, Sally McRae to a 4^th place finish, is gearing up to tackle the race for a 2^nd time herself.

Andrea Moore, 47, who is just coming off the Arizona Monster 300-mile race where she placed 11^th is about to tackle her 3’d Cocodona 250. Jake Jackson, a UPS Driver and social media ultrarunning influencer has been publicly documenting his training for the race. These are a few of the individuals you may want to keep an eye out for but there are over 300 storylines that maybe, through the livestream and live chat-box we’ll be able to get to know just a little bit about and certainly gain inspiration from.

It’s a 250-mile race where anything can happen. It does. And it will. So, buckle up and get your fire extinguishers ready, because it’s going to be a freaking barn burner!

Follow the live tracking and the livestream which will go on for the entirety of the race. You can watch or chat on the livestream and track your runner or runners all at the same time. It’s one of the few live events and certainly one of the only one that goes on for 5-straight days.