Welcome to Day 2 of the Cocodona 250
BREAKING UPDATE! Callie Vinson, fan favorite has dropped according to Chris Worden who got word from her partner Scott Traer We’ve also learned from Hilary Yang that Michael Versteeg has dropped in Sedona, mile 163, after being in the top 5 for most of the race.
It has been raining in the desert and in the mountains and every shot of runners making their way from Whiskey Row to Sedona and beyond shows mud-encased shoes and legs and clothes soaked all the way through.
Welcome to Cocodona. Nothing is given. Expect the Unexpected and be prepared to give it everything you’ve got and then another 99%.
The big news coming out of last night was Courtney Dauwalter‘s decision to end her race after leading the entire race, at mile 108–the Mingus Mountain aid station. We know it was cold and it was wet, but Dauwalter has survived almost every element known to human kind out on the trails. She’s only had 3 DNF’s (Did Not Finish) out of 100 trail races. So suspicion has it that something went very wrong. An injury? An illness? A fall? We don’t know but her crew says that she is okay and wants everyone to focus on the rest of the runners still charging their way towards Flagstaff.
To that end, Rachel Entrekin, the defending Cocodona 250 champ from last year, is still holding onto a solid lead as F1 (first female,) and in 3’d place overall at mile 170. She is only 5 miles behind M2, Ryan Sandes of South African and 7 miles behind Dan Green of West Virginia who has remained in the lead for the entire day. Entrekin is not only a phenomenal ultrarunner but a classical pianist as well. She even played a few keys at Mt. Mingus aid station while passing through.
The 2nd place female right now is Lindsey Dwyer who is approximately 25 miles behind Entrekin and she is followed by Sarah Ostaszewski, who won Cocodona in 2023 and the Moab 240 in 2024. Ostaszewski, has been playing a very patient game and we’ll see how that pays off in the last 70-80 miles of the race. Interestingly, Tara Dower, who recently set the overall Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the Appalachian Trail, has been helping Araviapa Running (who put on Cocodona) and Mountain Outpost (Aravaipa’s live-streaming and video company) with commentary in both the studio and out on the course. Soon after Dower finish interviewing last year’s winner, Harry Subertas (who is now in 5th place) at Jerome aid-station she made her way onto the trails to help pace her friend Entrekin. While ultrarunners cover huge distances on foot, the community remains very intimate and tight.
Now sleep strategies come into play in a big way. Some of the runners push through the first night, some believe that sleeping early will help them sustain energy for days ahead and some just fall to the ground and take a dirt nap as necessary. We do know from the livestream that both Sandes and Green took short naps at mile 170 and then continued to charge into the night towards Munds Park. Prescott native and crowd favorite, Michael Versteeg, Bib #666, was sleeping as this story was published, but still remained in 4th place. DJ Fox, from Boulder, CO is in 3d place for men but has not slept yet. Entrekin, slept for a short time at the Foxboro aid-station before heading back out into the night.
Big Media has not slacked off one bit. Finn Melanson from The Singletrack Podcast, is currently sitting in 8th place. Kevin Goldberg of the Distance to Empty Podcast which focusses solely on 200+mile runs and multi-day events is running the course faster than he ever has and is now at mile 147. Jeff Garmire, of The Free Outside Podcast, who has run this race every year since it’s inception in 2021, is being paced by Jeff Peltier and after a tough night has moved back up in the pack to M11. Cameron Hanes is hammering away and has moved up to M18 at mile 136. Hanes was even advertising his new book, Undeniable, at mile 90 at 4am on Instagram. Ultrarunning’s favorite ambassador, Andy Jones-Wilkins, host of Crack a Brew with AJW, is making his way through the course with 2 new hips. Typically AJW, 57, who has a deep and storied ultra-career is on the livestream with Chris Worden, but this year the pull was too strong and he decided to begin his first foray in the 200+mile distance in his beloved Arizona.
Ever since Dauwalter dropped, Entrekin has been making big moves and growing her lead by the hour. Behind Dwyer and Ostaszewski who are in 2nd and 3d place respectively, is a tight group of women that could tap into the podium and certainly the top 10. Some of these include Georgia Porter, who just set the FKT on the Arizona Trail. There is Shelby Farrell who has run this race before and paced previous winners. There is also Allison Powell, a strong ultrarunner from Bozeman MT. There’s still a lot of race left and as the miles go on things like sleep, nutrition, hydration, become increasingly more important to keep the body moving forward.
Callie Vinson, the body-positive, ultrarunning influencer, who encourages runners of all sizes and paces to get out onto the trail, is running without crew or pacers this year and is holding her own at mile 90. Andrew Glaze has been doing live updates to his large following on Instagram and TikTok, the latest from Mt. Mingus aid station where he was eating vegan pasta and talking about how bundled he had to be to deal with the cold temps and constant rain.
There are still over 240 runners on the course making their way from Black Canyon City just north of Phoenix to Flagstaff Arizona in the cold and rain and mud and wind. The livestream and the Cocodona 250 Instagram is a great place to catch all of the action or even snippets of the runners when you can.
Peter Mortimer, who just won the inaugural Arizona Monster 300, is in the studio for Cocodona After Dark, but will soon be making his way to the Wild Cat Hill aid-station where he will finish setting up Pete’s Meat—the large barbeque in ultrarunning. Last year Pete dressed up as a cow and was grilling meat for all of the runners coming down off of Mt. Elden in Flagstaff. Due to a course change, this year, he will be at Wild Cat, serving chicken and brisque and ribs to provide all of the meat-eating runners that still have another 17-mile finish to the aid station.
Also in a tight group is past Cocodona winner, Mike McKnight, Moab 240 winner in 2023, Jesse Haynes, Moab 240 winner in 2024, Max Jolliffe. It’s a long race that just gets longer as the days and hours and sleepless miles stretch on. Day 3 is when things can really take a turn so stay tuned. There’s a long way to go and a short time to get there…. watch those Cocodonians run!
—- Erin Quinn
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