As one of many unique 200-milers in North America, Cocodona 250 at all times will get a number of hype (who doesn’t love dot-watching?), and this 12 months can be one other thrilling race, with the legendary Courtney Dauwalter making a return after a DNF final 12 months attributable to abdomen points. She’ll be paced by one among Canada’s high ultrarunners, Marianne Hogan.
“A really, very critical interview occurred right here to see if Marianne Hogan would tempo me at Cocodona 250,” Dauwalter just lately posted on Instagram. “Will you additionally greet all of my hallucinated pals? If I lie down within the filth for a nap, will you time me for precisely one minute?” She requested her followers for solutions as to what different vital questions she ought to have requested Hogan.
Final 12 months, Dauwalter began robust, discovering herself in first total by mile 77.2 (124.2 km). Issues had been trying promising within the first third of the race; she overtook the ladies’s chief properly earlier than mile 36.5 (58.7 km), and was main outright upon reaching Whiskey Row at mile 77.2 (124.2 km). “Excited to be out right here,” the 40-year-old mentioned round mile 12.5 (20.1 km). “Tremendous cool. Thus far, loving it.” On Tuesday morning, she pulled off the course at Mingus Mountain, after tackling 174 km.
The Boulder-based athlete hadn’t run a race over 200 miles for the reason that 2020 Huge’s Yard Extremely. This 12 months’s race will see Dauwalter dealing with defending champion and fellow American Rachel Entrekin, who additionally received The Mammoth 200-miler in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., final 12 months, ending second total.
Hogan boasts a powerful resume, and final 12 months took third at Western States Endurance Run (WSER), North America’s oldest 100-mile race. She reclaimed the identical spot she earned in 2022, when she ran her first WSER, simply months after getting back from a devastating leg harm. Her time this 12 months was greater than an hour quicker than her 2022 end. She additionally claimed third at UTMB in 2024 and was second in 2022. After a current interval of coaching in Madeira, Hogan posted that she was off to the U.S. “for a pleasant final block of prep earlier than the WSER.”
Cocodona 250 runs yearly by way of the guts of Arizona; this 12 months’s occasion is being held from Could 4 to 9. The course follows a 250-mile (402.5 km) route from Black Canyon Metropolis to Flagstaff, beginning within the desert and climbing 10,000 toes (3,048 m) within the first 50 km. It was the brainchild of Aravaipa Working’s Jamil Coury and Anthony Culpepper as a solution to create a difficult route linking a lot of their favorite Arizona cities and trails; runners climb mountains, run by way of ponderosa pine forests, move distinctive rock formations and go straight by way of the center of cities like Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff.
“Marianne will maintain her tempo on a part of this very lengthy journey,” courseepique.podcast shared on Instagram. “On the agenda: heaps and many encouragement.”
Together with the 250-mile distance, the occasion additionally hosts 125-, 100-, 80-, and 40-mile races. Cocodona 250 can have a stay tracker throughout the race (right here), and can be livestreamed by Mountain Outpost media model on YouTube, right here.
