When a late spring storm rolled by central Arizona on the morning of Monday, Could 5, runners who’d simply began the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile had been pummeled with rain and hail as they made their approach north from Again Canyon Metropolis, Arizona, to the Crown King support station, some 36 miles into the race. The early climate set the stage for what could be an unseasonably chilly, moist, and muddy operating of the five-year-old occasion, and in the long run, it was Dan Inexperienced and Rachel Entrekin, repeating her win from 2024, who emerged victorious with occasions of 58:47:18 and 63:50:55, respectively, each course information.
Beginning at 5 a.m. native time, runners confronted the 256-mile journey between Black Canyon Metropolis and Flagstaff with about 40,000 toes of elevation acquire and 35,000 toes of descending. They’d till 10 a.m. on Saturday, Could 10 — a 125-hour time restrict — to make it to the end line and would go to the cities of Prescott, Cottonwood, and Sedona en route. They might additionally traverse the rugged Bradshaw Mountains, the unrelenting Mingus Mountain, the famed pink rock vortex of Sedona — together with the uncovered Hangover Path — and finish with a climb as much as Elden Mountain earlier than descending to the downtown Flagstaff end line.
Dan Inexperienced ran a wise and constant race to journey from Black Canyon Metropolis to Flagstaff, Arizona, sooner than anybody else and win the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile. All pictures: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The incessant rain that settled over the occasion for a lot of the time appeared uncommon climate for individuals who think about Arizona to be arid, dry, and at all times sizzling. However spring storms occur, and Arizona grime typically turns to sticky peanut butter mud when moist. Within the race’s early miles, runners who’d been diligently doing their sauna coaching to arrange for the warmth had been as a substitute confronted with freezing temperatures, hail, and fog alongside what was traditionally the most popular and most uncovered a part of the course. This was then adopted by mud and extra rain on the climb over Mingus Mountain and down into Jerome, which was then adopted by extra rain till the storm lastly cleared, after almost two days, giving everybody a little bit of reduction.
With returning champions Harry Subertas (Lithuania, lives within the U.S.) and Entrekin each again on the beginning line alongside many others who had plans of operating on the pointy finish of the race, each fields seemed to placed on a great present. On the ladies’s facet, Mika Thewes, final yr’s third-place lady, was again, and Courtney Dauwalter was additionally lining up for her first 200-plus-mile race since profitable the 2018 Tahoe 200 Mile. Georgia Porter, who has the ladies’s quickest recognized time on the 817-mile Arizona Path, was additionally attempting her luck. On the boys’s facet, Subertas was joined by Inexperienced, who completed the Javelina 100 Mile within the high 5 in each 2023 and 2024, Ryan Sandes (South Africa) who has completed extremely in aggressive worldwide races as much as 100 miles lengthy plus a number of fairly adventurous multiday runs in tough terrain, and final yr’s fifth-pace finisher and winner of the inaugural race in 2021, Michael Versteeg.
Learn on to see how each races unfolded.
The 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile ladies’s winner Rachel Entrekin obtained into it with the climate within the early miles of the race.
2025 Cocodona 250 Mile Males’s Race
Beginning in Black Canyon Metropolis, the 256-ish route heads out by the long-lasting saguaro cacti of the Sonoran Desert. Racers began below clear skies and weren’t required to hold rain jackets till the Crown King support station, 36 miles in. The primary 40 miles of the course takes in about 10,000 toes of climbing.
Final yr’s champion and course-record holder, Harry Subertas (Lithuania, lives within the U.S.), took the preliminary lead as he headed from the beginning line into the Bradshaw Mountains. Pau Rius (Canada) adopted in second only a few minutes again, and Jack Scott (U.Okay.), who set a brand new course report on the 2024 Winter Backbone Race, and Dan Inexperienced adopted shut behind. Michael Versteeg settled into fifth. Ryan Sandes (South Africa) additionally wasn’t far behind because the leaders made their approach to Crown King support station.
Defending champion Harry Subertas led for the early miles earlier than settling right into a extra sustainable tempo.
Whereas the entrance of the race principally escaped the huge deluge within the Crown King space, many of the runners obtained hit by a storm that introduced rain, hail, clouds, and fog — and plenty of didn’t have rain jackets with them. Sadly, the climate snarled race logistics, and the primary 40 runners reached Crown King earlier than their drop baggage did. Flexibility was key, and everybody made the perfect of extremely difficult situations.
When it hails and also you don’t have a jacket, an emergency blanket will do exactly tremendous.
By the primary night, 12 hours into the race, Subertas had began to pay the value for his quick begin. After operating a major distance forward for a lot of hours, he was overtaken by ladies’s chief Courtney Dauwalter, in addition to Inexperienced, as they headed into the Camp Wamatochick support station at mile 69. Subertas was now operating with Sandes.
It’s value noting that of the highest 10 total by Camp Wamatochick, half would drop from the race.
The run by Prescott’s iconic Whiskey Row at mile 78 is at all times full of fanfare and noise, and Inexperienced led the boys’s subject by, adopted shortly by Sandes and Subertas. Ruis, Versteeg, and Michael Greer additionally got here by earlier than a much bigger hole to the remainder of the sphere as evening got here for the primary time.
Circumstances deteriorated because the leaders made their approach as much as the help station atop Mingus Mountain at mile 108, one of many course’s most unrelenting climbs, reaching an elevation of almost 8,000 toes. Little modified within the entrance of the sphere because the witching hour got here and went, with Inexperienced — who was forward after all report tempo — now opening up a couple-mile hole on Sandes, who had an identical hole on Versteeg. With the climate and miles beginning to get to be an excessive amount of for a lot of, DJ Fox and Cody Poskin moved into the highest 5. Edher Ramirez, who didn’t decide up a tracker till late within the race and made issues a little bit complicated for race followers, adopted shut behind in sixth. Staying heat and upright within the mud over Mingus turned the secret.
DJ Fox (proper) approaches the Lane Mountain support station after making it by the hail on day 1.
By midmorning of day 2, little had modified in addition to the climate — which was now cloudy however dry — as Inexperienced continued within the lead by the Useless Horse support station in Cottonwood at mile 134, with Sandes sizzling on his tail. Sandes had reduce a 75-minute hole to 45 within the span of 9 miles within the early morning hours. Working by the relative lowlands after Useless Horse, the hole continued to shrink, and Sandes took the lead from Inexperienced out of the Deer Go support station at mile 148, and now they each had a sizeable hole on Versteeg in third and the remainder of the sphere.
By way of the vortexes of Sedona at mile 162 and up Schnebly Hill main out of city, the 2 leaders ran in shut proximity with a cushty hole on everybody else. It appeared that third could be a battle between Versteeg and Fox, till Versteeg dropped in Sedona after what gave the impression to be a tough evening within the mud and rain. In the meantime, Ramirez handed Poskin and was shut on Fox’s tail in fourth.
The course and climate would finally get the higher of Michael Versteeg, and he would drop in Sedona at mile 162.
It was after climbing again onto the Mogollon Rim and into the excessive nation round mile 173 on the second evening that Inexperienced lastly opened up a spot on Sandes. On the comparatively flat terrain into Flagstaff, the hole between the highest two grew to a number of miles. Behind them, Ramirez had lastly caught Fox heading out of Sedona, and the 2 of them ran collectively for a bit earlier than Ramirez pulled away. Subertas continued to take a seat in fifth place as he made his approach to the excessive nation.
Ryan Sandes, in his first 200-plus-mile effort, completed a powerful second.
Dropping into Flagstaff simply earlier than dawn with solely 35 miles left to run and cloudy however dry climate, Inexperienced had almost a two-hour hole on Sandes and proceeded to make quick work of Walnut Canyon and the climb up the north facet of Mount Elden. From the highest, which was nonetheless noticed with patches of snow from the storm, it was simply six miles to the end with a brief and steep drop down the entrance facet of the mountain and a rolling end on comparatively clean singletrack earlier than the ultimate paved couple of miles into downtown Flagstaff.
Dan Inexperienced completed first with a time of 58:47:18, a brand new course report by simply over an hour.
He was adopted by Ryan Sandes, who arrived in Flagstaff in 61:21:04, to take second place.
Behind them, Edher Ramirez confirmed outstanding closing velocity within the remaining stretch to Flagstaff and over Mount Elden to tug himself away from a badly fading DJ Fox to complete third in 63:10:13.
In the long run, each Harry Subertas and Finn Melanson, the latter of whom had been quietly making relentless ahead progress, additionally obtained by Fox and completed in fourth and fifth.
Dan Inexperienced on his approach to profitable the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile.
2025 Cocodona 250 Mile Males’s Outcomes
Dan Inexperienced – 58:47:18
Ryan Sandes – 61:21:04
Edher Ramirez – 63:10:13
Harry Subertas – 65:28:53
Finn Melanson – 66:29:40
Monitoring and full outcomes.
2025 Cocodona 250 Mile Girls’s Race
As with the boys’s race, it was final yr’s champion, Rachel Entrekin, who led within the preliminary miles of this yr’s occasion. From the beginning, she was adopted carefully by Courtney Dauwalter, the odds-on ladies’s favourite. Of us even whispered that she had the potential to win the race total. So when Dauwalter took the general race lead simply earlier than Camp Wamatochick at mile 69, the web went nuts, briefly crashing the race organizer’s web site.
However, as with all issues extremely racing, what will be anticipated is the surprising. Within the early miles of the race, Dauwalter set a blistering tempo together with her trademark smile and cheer, making it — on the floor — look totally easy. She handed Entrekin comparatively shortly, and as she picked off the boys in entrance of her, it turned clear that the general win might be a risk.
Courtney Dauwalter led the general classification for a lot of miles till a full-body shutdown ended her race after 108 miles.
When the climate hit the sphere about 30 miles in, Dauwalter held a small hole over Entrekin, and Mika Thewes ran a couple of miles in arrears in third place, the identical place she’d completed the race in 2024. Lindsey Dwyer, winner of the 2024 Brazos Bend 100 Mile, was only a bit additional again in fourth, and Sarah Ostaszewski, operating the occasion for the fourth time after profitable it in 2023, sat in fifth forward of Kalie Demerjian and Allison Powell.
Reaching the Crown King support station at mile 36, it was Dauwalter, Entrekin, and Dwyer within the high three, with the gaps between them stretching greater than a mile every. Thewes, having a tough day, pulled the plug at Crown King.
Because the miles wore on by the primary day and the race approached Prescott at mile 77, it turned clear that Entrekin and Dauwalter had been in a league of their very own, with Dauwalter main the race and Entrekin sitting comfortably within the high 10 total. Behind them, Dwyer was joined by a pack of girls that now included Georgia Porter and Katherine Edwards Anderson.
Rachel Entrekin appeared to take the unseasonal Arizona climate in stride on her approach to her second victory in a row on the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile.
Whereas everybody was watching Dauwalter take the general lead, many failed to note that Entrekin was nonetheless preserving the hole small and had labored her approach into the highest 5 total as darkness descended and the climate deteriorated even additional. Leaving Prescott and traversing the technical granite dells by Watson Lake a couple of miles outdoors of city, the hole between the highest two ladies sat about an hour, and by the point the remainder of the ladies’s subject was leaving Prescott’s Whiskey Row simply after midnight, the 2 leaders had been already on the early slopes of the muddy Mingus Mountain, approaching the 100-mile mark of the race.
Whether or not it was the mud, the tempo, or only a dangerous day, Dauwalter dropped on the Mingus Mountain support station at mile 108 after experiencing what she known as on social media a “full physique shutdown.” Entrekin’s crew stored Dauwalter’s drop secret from her so long as potential, wanting her to maintain her mindset of chasing somebody down. Even with the rain, mud, and difficult situations, Entrekin appeared in good spirits when she arrived on the high of Mingus, even stopping for a couple of seconds to play the piano that was arrange within the constructing.
Whereas Entrekin entertained the help station together with her musical abilities, Dwyer and Porter ran close to one another again by the lowlands of Prescott Valley at mile 90 with an affordable hole on Ostaszewski and Powell. Because the evening wore on, the mud on the mountain obtained worse with flooded trails and footwear glommed up with clay-infused, cement-like mud.
Descending from Mingus Mountain, Entrekin reached the midway level within the race within the small neighborhood of Jerome proper round dawn, nonetheless unknowing that she was main the ladies’s race. She wouldn’t study this reality, or that she was in third total, till she reached Useless Horse support station in Cottonwood at mile 134. Her response was to proceed on at her regular and constant tempo.
Behind her, Dwyer opened up a small hole on Porter whereas climbing Mingus Mountain. The day introduced cloud over the mountain, and Dwyer went by a several-hour low patch the place she initially requested the race protection cameras depart her alone earlier than deciding she wished to point out the world the truth of what it took to race 250 miles.
Even after enduring an hours-long low level through the first evening, Lindsey Dwyer ran persistently to complete as second-place lady.
On the midway level in Jerome, Dwyer was shifting nicely below threatening clouds, however by the point Porter obtained there simply over an hour later, it was pouring rain. Ostaszewski stayed shut on her tail and caught Porter on the support station, and was in a position to depart first. The race for third — for the subsequent 125 miles — was on, with a day and a half elapsed. Shelby Farrell, who’d made an enormous leap up within the subject, now sat in fifth.
In the meantime, Entrekin had reached Sedona at mile 162 trying comfy and shifting a lot sooner than she had final yr.
Georgia Porter ran within the high 5 earlier than dropping in Sedona.
By way of the second witching hour, the highest three of Entrekin, Dwyer, and Ostaszewski stayed the identical, whereas Porter was joined by Demerjian and Edwards Anderson, the trio not far behind as all of them made their approach towards Sedona. Dwyer obtained out of the Sedona support station simply earlier than Ostaszewski arrived round 4 a.m., and Edwards Anderson and Porter confirmed up shortly after, bringing the race for third again along with 90 miles nonetheless to go. Porter would ultimately drop right here, whereas Edwards Anderson went in chase of Ostaszewski into the daybreak.
After operating 194 miles, Entrekin took an prolonged break in Munds Park earlier than the ultimate stretch into Flagstaff. With almost a 30-mile hole on second-place Dwyer with slightly below 60 miles left to race, she had a little bit of time to play with on her approach to the end. Seemingly motivated by eager to make it residence earlier than headlamp o’clock towards the top of day 3, Entrekin maintained a powerful tempo and summited Mount Elden round 5 p.m. with solely six principally downhill miles to go.
Sarah Ostaszewski enjoys a sizzling beverage in chilly Arizona climate.
In the long run, Rachel Entrekin would run the ultimate miles into downtown Flagstaff at the hours of darkness and change into a two-time champion of the occasion with a time of 63:50:55, beating the earlier course report set by Annie Hughes in 2022 of 71:10:22 by seven hours.
Lindsey Dwyer completed in second in 79:35:28, and Sarah Ostaszewski made a outstanding late-race surge to complete third in 80:25:31.
[Editor’s Note: At the time of this article’s publishing, we’re awaiting the rest of the top-five women to finish. We’ll update this article as they do.]
2025 Cocodona 250 Mile Girls’s Outcomes
Rachel Entrekin – 63:50:55
Lindsey Dwyer – 79:35:28
Sarah Ostaszewski – 80:25:31
Monitoring and full outcomes.
