In partnership with

Last week US trail runner Rachel Entrekin did something truly remarkable - she was the outright winner of the Cocodona 250 mile race in the US. Not the first female, first outright in what’s fast becoming known as one of the top long, long distance races on the calendar.

Oh, and she broke the course record in doing so.

Of course, it isn’t unheard of for a woman to win a race outright - Entrekin has done it plenty of times herself. But it is unusual at the big races, and despite only being six years old, Cocodona is well on the way to establishing itself in that stratum.

Whichever way you look at it, it was a mighty effort by Entrekin who ran the 254 mile (409 kilometre) course in 56 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds - almost 1 hour 20 minutes ahead of the first man across the line, Kilian Korth.

That’s an average pace of 8 minutes and 16 seconds per kilometre along a course that features more than 11,800m of elevation.

It was Entrekin’s third Cocodona and the third time she’s been first woman across the line. In 2024 she took more than 73 hours and was 11th overall. A year later she finished in 63 hours and was fourth overall. Given that progression, last week’s result was unexpected, but not a massive surprise.

Eating, drinking and sleeping

After her victory, Entrekin told Here for the Women’s Race co-founder Hilary Yang: “It’s an eating contest, an ultra race.” So it makes sense that in order to fine-tune her strategy for 2026, Entrekin teamed up with Precision Fuel & Hydration.

One of Precision’s sport scientists, Emily Arrell, tailored a nutrition and hydration plan specifically for Entrekin for this race, and Arrell was part of Entrekin’s crew, on hand at each checkpoint to ensure the plan was executed to perfection.

Precision have turned around an interesting video on this, which details the plan and how it went as the race unfolded. Entrekin is a “salty sweater”, so there was a focus on sodium in the plan.

Essentially, she was aiming for 300-800 millilitres of fluid per hour, depending on how hot conditions got, with 1,500 milligrams of sodium per litre of fluid. Plus a minimum of 60 grams of carbs per hour on the nutrition front.

Each night her fluid of choice was Coke - which efficiently delivered her sugar and caffeine. She switched to Fanta and Sprite during the day. Interestingly, she also ate a lot of “real” food - mashed potato, broth, rice and oatmeal all featured.

One of Entrekin’s other tactics was to sleep as little as possible, so she took just three “dirt naps” - which basically entails lying down on the trail to sleep - which lasted a total of 19 minutes.

Winning streak

Coming into Cocodona, Entrekin had been on one helluva streak. According to UltraSignup, she has failed to finish as first woman across the line in just one of her past 24 events. That was at Ultra Trail Chianti, where she was third behind winner Courtney Dauwalter.

Dauwalter was second woman and sixth overall at Cocodona, almost six hours behind Entrekin but still faster than the previous women’s course record.

In an interview with Yang the day after her victory, Entrekin said that third place took some of the pressure off her going into Cocodona. She also said winning is not really her focus when she’s racing.

“I care about my attitude at the finish line more than I care about winning,” she said. And she said she loved Chianti because she, Dauwalter and second placed Yngvild Kaspersen had a ding-dong battle throughout, which was exciting. Less than seven minutes separated the three of them at the finish of the 120k race.

In that context, it was a little surprising to hear her say she had a bit of imposter syndrome when she took the outright lead around the 60 mile mark at Cocodona. But when she started doubting whether she could be the first woman to win the race outright, lines from Rage Against the Machine’s song Guerrilla Radio came to her:

It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?

She also shared what I found were really interesting insights on her mindset. Clearly you don’t run that far without experiencing flat points. When something goes wrong in a race, if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking: “What if this pain in my shin/knee/hip/eyelash gets worse?”

But as Entrekin wisely observes, being positive is a choice. She says sure, when things go wrong it could be disastrous if they get worse. “But what if it gets better?” she asks. That simple mindshift makes a whole lot of sense.

During the interview she also talks about her encounter with a “giant” rattlesnake and recounts being blessed by a native American woman who handed her some cornmeal which represented strength.

But my favourite moment came when Yang asked Entrekin what she was most proud of at Cocodona. The answer reveals a lot about her because it had nothing to do with her or her achievement. She teared up as she told Yang she was most proud of “the redemption arc runners”.

“There were a lot of people out there who had beef [from previous years] with the course … and I love a good redemption arc. Persevering through hard things is so worth it. To not have the day you want and to come back and try it again is really cool.

“To have a hard time and decide to come back is absolutely gangster!” A bit like Rachel Entrekin herself.

Built for it

Science tells you Entrekin’s feat in winning Cocodona outright is not an out-of-the-box performance. A number of scientific studies have demonstrated that while men perform better than women over shorter distances, the longer the race, the more that performance gap narrows.

There seem to be a number of reasons for this. Women appear to be more resistent to muscle fatigue. They also have metabolic advantages in the way they oxidise fat, which essentially means they are better at turning fat into energy and therefore less reliant on topping up the body’s fuel supply with carbs on race day.

And in a finding that should surprise precisely no-one, women are also more disciplined when it comes to race strategy, sticking more assiduously to their pacing plans. So less likely to go out too hard, too early before collapsing in a heap.

Sound familiar gents?

Rise of the ultra ultras

It’s been interesting to watch the Cocodona 250’s profile rise and rise in its relatively short six-year history. That’s been helped by the fact it’s run by Jamil Coury of Aravaipa Running. Coury and his team run some of the best known ultras in the US and are also notable for the quality of the video content they create.

It’s a point to point race in Arizona, where Aravaipa is based. Cocodona is a portmanteau, combining the “Coco” from the Coconino National Forest the race traverses, and the “dona” from Sodona, one of the towns runners run through.

The race starts at Deep Canyon Ranch in Black Canyon City (could it get any more American-sounding??) and finishes in Heritage Square, Flagstaff. Just to show Coury has a sense of humour, one of the biggest climbs in the race comes right before the finish line - a 1,000m grind up Mt Eldon.

The race’s rapid rise reflects what appears to be a growing appetite for very long events - stretching the limits of what’s seen as possible. The inaugural Cocodona 250 had 171 starters. This year more than 400 toed the line and the growth has been such that Aravaipa has introduced a lottery system for 2027.

Running very, very, (very) long distances seems here to stay.

Watch Rachel Entrekin’s post race interview with Hilary Yang:

Upcoming Events

There are way too many events for me to list everything that’s happening around the country, but here is a selection of upcoming races (with a bias towards South East Queensland).

The Running Calendar website is a great source if you want a comprehensive understanding of what’s available around the country.