As one of many authentic 200-milers in North America, Cocodona 250 all the time will get loads of hype (who doesn’t love dot-watching?), and this 12 months shall be one other thrilling race, with the legendary Courtney Dauwalter making a return after a DNF final 12 months on account of abdomen points. She’ll be paced by certainly one of Canada’s high ultrarunners, Marianne Hogan.
“A really, very critical interview came about right here to see if Marianne Hogan would tempo me at Cocodona 250,” Dauwalter not too long ago posted on Instagram. “Will you additionally greet all of my hallucinated associates? If I lie down within the grime for a nap, will you time me for precisely one minute?” She requested her followers for recommendations as to what different vital questions she ought to have requested Hogan.
Final 12 months, Dauwalter began sturdy, discovering herself in first general by mile 77.2 (124.2 km). Issues had been wanting promising within the first third of the race; she overtook the ladies’s chief effectively 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 stated round mile 12.5 (20.1 km). “Tremendous cool. Up to now, 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 going through defending champion and fellow American With Rachel Entwho additionally gained The Mammoth 200-miler in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., final 12 months, ending second general.
Hogan boasts a formidable 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 center of Arizona; this 12 months’s occasion is being held from Might 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 ft (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 lots of their favorite Arizona cities and trails; runners climb mountains, run by way of ponderosa pine forests, go 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 could have a reside tracker throughout the race (right here), and shall be livestreamed by Mountain Outpost media model on YouTube, right here.
