[Editor’s Note: We are devastated to learn that a runner has died in the 2026 Cocodona 250. We send our warmest thoughts and condolences to the runner’s family and the entire Aravaipa/Cocodona community.]
The 2026 Cocodona 250 returns on May 4 as one of the longest, most ambitious and most popular ultrarunning events in North America—a 250-mile, point-to-point challenge that pushes athletes across the rugged and wildly varied landscapes of Arizona.
What began as a bold idea from Aravaipa Running’s Jamil Coury has quickly evolved since its inception in 2021 into a defining race on the global ultra calendar, attracting elite competitors, seasoned veterans, ambitious everyday trail runners, and first-time multi-day runners alike. (And, this year, there’s even one lucky Burrito League runner in the mix!)
Consider this your guide to get hyped for the 2026 Cocodona 250, with details about how to watch the livestream, how to track runners, who the top contenders are, how to sign up for next year’s races, and video links (below) to watch “The Cutoff,” a feature-length film about the back-of-the-pack runners in last year’s race, and “Year of the Storm, The 2025 Cocodona 250 Supercut,” a compilation of the best moments from last year.
RELATED: Find Your Next Trail Running or Ultra Race
The 2026 Cocodona 250
The full Cocodona course stretches roughly 250 miles from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff, linking together a diverse cross-section of terrain. The 404 runners entered in the race will climb through the Bradshaw Mountains, pass through historic towns like Crown King and Prescott, and traverse the exposed ridgelines near Jerome before dropping into the red rock labyrinth of Sedona. From there, the route climbs again into cooler pine forests as athletes approach the finish in Flagstaff. The constant shifts in terrain and elevation make pacing and strategy critical from the very first mile.
Unlike traditional ultras, Cocodona unfolds over several days, turning the race into a battle of endurance, logistics, and mental resilience. It takes a special set of skills and experiences to win that kind of race. It’s not like a speedy 100-miler, a more rugged mountain race, or a multi-day stage race, but really requires a runner who has some background in each of those. Sleep deprivation becomes a factor, as does the ability to manage nutrition and fatigue, while also having strong crew support across a long and evolving course. Early leaders often fade, while patient runners can move up dramatically in the later stages. It’s a race where experience and decision-making can matter just as much as fitness.
The event’s scale, difficulty, and storytelling potential have made it a centerpiece of the sport each spring. While it’s a race at the front of the pack, it’s more of an expedition across an entire region for most runners. Plus, the event includes four other races of multiple distances, allowing participants to choose their level of immersion in the event. In all, nearly 1,400 runners will take part in this year’s event, and whether they’re chasing a podium finish or simply aiming to reach Heritage Square in Flagstaff, everyone who toes the line and starts one of the events becomes part of a larger story unfolding across Arizona’s trails.
“I think that’s part of the magic of Cocodona,” says co-race director Erika Snyder. “There’s something really special about this race and this community and going through the different landscapes of Arizona has clearly captivated people and people want come and test out their endurance and see what this adventure is like for themselves.”
Conditions across the course can vary dramatically, from hot desert temperatures early in the race to chilly nights and even lingering snow patches at higher elevations. Last year, a massive temperature dip and a hail storm moved in on the afternoon of the first day. These environmental swings require runners to be adaptable and prepared for anything. Gear choices, crew coordination, and timing can all influence outcomes in ways that go far beyond raw fitness. It’s this unpredictability that gives Cocodona its edge.
Ultimately, the Cocodona 250 has become more than just a race—it’s a defining adventure-infused offshoot of modern ultrarunning. From Coury’s original vision to the thousands of footsteps that runners trace through the route each year, the event captures the continued onward push to explore the human limits of endurance in new and innovative ways.
“We’ve worked hard to build the community around the race, and I think people feel that from the first step to Deep Canyon Ranch all the way to the finish in Heritage Square,” Snyder adds. “This is a place where people feel something special and it’s translated into kind of all the aspects of Cocodona—social media, the livestream and the experience of the race itself.”
RELATED: Why You Should Run at Least One Practice Trail Race Before Your First—or Next—Big Ultra
A Weeklong Festival
What sets Cocodona apart is its festival-like structure, with multiple races taking place along the same route throughout the week. These companion events allow runners to experience sections of the course without committing to the full 250-mile distance. They also bring a wider community into the fold, creating a shared energy that builds as the week progresses. Aid stations, crews, and spectators often overlap, adding to the sense of a traveling trail-running celebration.
Among those events is the Sedona Canyons 125 (409 entrants), which covers the latter half of the course and showcases some of the most visually stunning terrain in the race. Runners pass through Sedona’s iconic red rock formations before climbing toward the high country near Flagstaff. The Bradshaw Brute 100 (46 entrants), on the other hand, tackles the rugged opening segment, where heat, steep climbs, and technical trails create an unforgiving early test. Each race has its own identity while still feeling connected to the larger journey.
The Mingus Traverse (187 entrants), an 80-mile route through the middle of the course, offers a balanced mix of challenge and scenery, including high ridgelines and forested descents. Meanwhile, the Flagstaff Crest 40 (332 entrants) provides a shorter but still demanding experience near the finish, often at higher elevations where thinner air adds another layer of difficulty. Together, these races form a progression that mirrors the full Cocodona experience in smaller pieces. For many runners, they serve as stepping stones toward eventually tackling the 250.
RELATED: Back of the Pack Runners are the Backbone of Ultrarunning
How to Track Runners and Watch the 2026 Cocodona 250
Tune into the 2026 Cocodona 250 livestream, which will include live runner tracking to see how the race is unfolding and to keep tabs on your favorite athlete, as well as a daily livestream from Mountain Outpost. Also, watch the May 3 Cocodona preview show from Mountain Outpost.
2026 Cocodona 250: Top Contenders
Last year, despite some crazy weather early on, Dan Green and Rachel Entrekin rewrote the record books with outstanding efforts. Green was the overall winner in 58 hours, 47 minutes, 18 seconds, slicing about an hour off the previous record after reaching Flagstaff about two and a half hours ahead of Ryan Sandes and four and a half hours ahead of third-place finisher Edher Ramirez. Meanwhile, Entrekin stormed to a new women’s course record of 63:50:55, slicing a whopping 7 hours off the old mark with a 16-hour margin over runner-up Lindsey Dwyer.
Entrekin and Dwyer are both back this year, as is Ramirez, and several other top-10 finishers from a year ago. Here is a rundown of the top women’s and men’s contenders for the 2026 Cocodona 250.
Women
Rachel Entrekin, 34, Conifer, Colorado; The two-time Cocodona 250 women’s champion returns to try to make it three in a row this year and continue an amazing five-year run in which she’s rarely lost. After Cocodona last year, she continued her winning ways by taking firsts at the High Lonesome 100, Aspen Backcountry Marathon, Mammoth 200 (where she finished second overall to Jimmy Elam) and Pass Mountain 50 before winning the Coldwater Hundred outright on January 17 in Goodyear, Arizona.
She famously finished third at the Ultra Trail Chianti Castles 120K in Italy in May (behind Dauwalter and Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersen). Most recently, she was the top woman and placed second overall at the Whiskey Basin 60K on April 18 in Prescott, Arizona. Entrekin can certainly win Cocodona again, but can she win it outright? Time will tell.
Lindsey Dwyer, 34, Larkspur, California; In her first 200-mile+ race, Dwyer turned in a great race last year at Cocodona, finishing second behind Entrekin in the women’s race. She has won seven of the 10 100-mile races she’s finished, including an outright win at last fall’s Rio Del Lago 100 in Granite Bay, California.
Courtney Dauwalter, 41, Buena Vista, Colorado; Last year, Dauwalter teased the possibility of a woman winning Cocodona outright, famously leading last year’s Cocodona through 77 miles. She eventually dropped out near mile 108, reportedly due to severe stomach issues, but it made for an exciting first 24 hours of the event. After leading but fading to 10th in last year’s UTMB, she rebounded by running two fast road marathons last fall (including a PR of 2:38:54) and then won the Ultra Trail Chianti Castles 120K in Italy in March. Dauwalter famously won the Moab 240 outright in 2017 by more than 10 hours and was the first woman finisher (and second overall, 27 minutes behind winner Kyle Curtin) at the 2018 Tahoe 200.
Sally McRae, 46, Huntington Beach, California; McRae was the fourth women’s finisher in the 2023 Cocodona 250, then later that year took the women’s title in the Triple Crown of 200s (Bigfoot, Tahoe, Moab) with the lowest cumulative finish times of any female participant (247 hours, 42 minutes, 52 seconds). She hasn’t raced as much since then, placing 31st at the 2024 Western States 100 and taking 12th in the Long Haul 100 in Florida in January. She also won the 2021 Badwater 135 and has numerous Western States 100 and UTMB finishes to her credit.
Megan Eckert, 39, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Eckert has numerous top finishes in 100-milers and was second in last summer’s Badwater 135. She also shattered the six-day world record last year, running 603 miles at the 2025 GOMU 6-Day World Championship, and is also the American record holder for the backyard format.
Mika Thewes, 34, Arvada, Colorado; Thewes is one of the most successful women’s 200-mile runners in the world, with five wins in 15 finishes, including two wins apiece at the Bigfoot 200 and Tahoe 200, a win at The Divide 200 in Canada in 2023, two third-place showing at Cocodona (2023, 2024), plus a sixth-place showing in the 330K (205-mile) Tor des Geants in Italy last year. She had a rough start at Cocodona last year and pulled out at the mile-36 Crown King aid station.
Lila Gaudrault, 23, Williston, Vermont; Gaudrault is one of the youngest runners in the field and has never run a 200-mile race, but she’s been running ultras since she was 18 and has several 100-mile podium finishes in New England. So far this year, she placed second in the Long Haul 100 in Florida and the Runamuck 50K in Vermont.
Heather Jackson, 43, Bend, Oregon; Jackson has done it all—Ironman triathlons, duathlons, 100-mile runs (Western States, UTMB), gravel cycling races, and more—and now she’s venturing into the 200-mile racing scene with her same contagious effervescence. She finished 19th at UTMB last summer and is coming off a win at the Desert Rats 100K on April 11 in Colorado.
Lauren Jones, 43, Atlanta; Jones found success in every kind of running race: marathons, 100-mile ultras, 24-hour track races, backyard-style ultras, and 200-mile-plus races. She was the second woman finisher (and 10th overall) at Cocodona in 2022, placed second at the USTAF 100-mile Championship in 2024, and second at the Tahoe 200 last summer. She arrives in Arizona having claimed the outright win at The Sparrow 6-Hour Race (36 miles) in Georgia back in February.
RELATED: Grounded, Calm and Consistent, Lauren Jones Has Found Success on Hospital Floors and Mountain Trails
Stephanie Rosebaugh, 44, Prescott, Arizona; Rosebaugh has only been trail running since 2023, but she’s found her niche in 200-mile+ races. She placed sixth among women at Cocodona in 2024, then third at the Bigfoot 200 later that summer, and a fourth at the Tahoe 200 last year. She’s won three backyard-style races since last fall, including the Across the Years Last Person Standing event (172.11 miles) in Arizona on December 28 Queeny Backyard Ultra (171.79 miles) on March 6 in St. Louis.
Manuela Vilaseca, 46, Moià, Spain; Vilaseca finished second at Cocodona in 2024, then last year was the women’s winner and record-setter of the Triple Crown of 200s after taking third at the Tahoe 200, second at the Bigfoot 200 and second at the Moab 240 (seventh overall). She was fifth at the Marathon des Sables in 2022 and has twice been a top 10 finisher at UTMB.
Other women to watch: Allison Powell, 34, Bozeman, Montana, Katherine Edwards Anderson, 26, McGaheysville, Virginia, Marina Striker, 54, Agassiz, BC, Canada Fernanda Cantu, 38, Monterrey, Mexico, Mikaela Mulco, 29, Fall City, Washington, Jennie Chisholm, 50, Salem, New Hampshire, Holly Stables, 48, Frome, England, Melissa Perez, 39, La Verne, California, Dalton McCurdy, 45, Bozeman, Montana, Jodi Semonell, 53, Omaha, Nebraska.
Men
Mike Versteeg, 40, Prescott, Arizona; The inaugural Cocodona 250 winner in 2021 and fifth-place finisher in 2024, Versteeg has participated in the event every year since its inception. (He didn’t finish in 2022, 2023 and 2025.) He has run (and won) numerous other ultras, including taking first at the Whiskey Basin Trail Runs 91K on April 18 in Prescott, Arizona.
Michael McKnight, 36, Smithfield, Utah: McKnight has plenty of Cocodona battle scars to his credit, having DNF’ed in 2021, placed second in 2023, won it in 2024, and persevered to finish eight last year. In 2023, he overcame a 10-hour deficit halfway through the race and wound up winning the race in record time, earning him the nickname “Dark McKnight.”
He set the Triple Crown of 200s cumulative record in 2019 (162 hours and 51 seconds) and is out to take it back from Kilian Korth, who snagged it last year. Having already won the Arizona Monster 300 on March 27, McKnight has a huge summer of running on tap after Cocodona, with the Tahoe 200 (June 12), Hardrock 100 (July 1), Bigfoot 200 (August 14), and Moab 240 (October 9) all on his schedule over the next five months.
Max Jolliffe, 34, Costa Mesa, California; This social media provocateur is back for another go at Cocodona after succumbing to the course at mile 238 because of rhabdomyolysis and and cellulitis last year. He rebounded to win the Angeles Crest 100 last summer and took fourth at last fall’s Mammoth 200. He also placed eighth overall in the Austin Marathon in February in a new PR of 2:34:56.
Jeff Browning, 54, Flagstaff, Arizona; The legendary Bronco Billy continues to show age is just a number when it comes to long ultras. He won Cocodona in 2023 and placed second the following year. Browning won the 21-mile version of The Vue on April 18 in Sedona, Arizona. After Cocodona, the seven-time Hardrock 100 finisher (and 2018 winner) will return to Western States 100 in search of his seventh finish (he was 18th last year).
Kilian Korth, 30, Grand Junction, Colorado; Korth is back for his third try at Cocodona after DNF’ing in 2022 and 2024 and finishing the Flagstaff Crest last year. But he also set the new Triple Crown of 200s record last year, winning the Tahoe 200, Bigfoot 200, and Moab 240 in a combined 156 hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds.
Joe McConaughy, 34, Seattle; The 2022 Cocodona winner and fourth-place finisher in 2024, McConaughy is known for his long-distance Fastest Known Times (FKT) but also placed 14th at Western States last summer.
Edher Ramirez, 40, Las Vegas, Nevada; A strong ultrarunner from 50K to 100 miles, Ramirez moved up to 200s at Cocodona last year and turned in a sterling third-place showing, then followed it up with a third in the Mammoth 200 in September.
Taylor Spike, 48, Harrisburg, Oregon; He finished second in the Arizona Monster 300 last year and has twice finished on the podium at the Tahoe 200.
Cameron Hanes, 58, Springfield, Oregon; This bowhunter, endurance athlete, author and outdoorsman ran Cocodona last year with a broken foot and wound up 15th overall, and was eighth at the Big Foot 200 in 2016.
Adam Kimble, 39, Truckee, California; Kimble gained some notoriety 10 years ago by running 2,500 miles across the U.S. and 1,000 miles across Great Britain, and by earning co-champion honors on Discovery Channel’s survival reality television show, The Wheel. He’s twice finished 12th at the Western States 100 (2018, 2022). He set (and still holds) the supported FKT on the Tahoe Rim Trail in 2020 (37 hours, 12 minutes, 15 seconds), famously taking down Kilian Jornet’s 2009 mark by 80 minutes.
Other men to watch: Jeff Garmire 35, Bozeman, Montana, Chris Marcinek, 38, Montrose, Colorado, Cody Poskin, 24, Cedar Hill, Missouri, DJ Fox, 33, Durango, Colorado, Marc Plummer, 31, Lawson, Missouri, Ryan Clifford, 29, Westbury, New York, Jason Tanner, 50, St. Marys, Pennsylvania, Carson Albanese, 36, Ithaca, New York, Alec Cline, 29, Canton, Ohio, and Jeff Barrington, 47, Puyallup, Washington.
2027 Cocodona 250 Registration
Due to the rapid growth in the race’s popularity, the Cocodona 250 will be transitioning to a lottery system for 2027. All applicants will receive one ticket for entering the lottery. It will open on Friday, May 1 at 2:50 p.m. PST.
Additional tickets will be earned for the following categories:
- Previous Finishers – One additional ticket for each previous finish of any Cocodona race distance including Cocodona 250, Sedona Canyons 125, Bradshaw Brute 100, Mingus Traverse 80 and Flagstaff Crest 40 (2021 to 2026 editions) for up to three additional tickets based on a maximum of one per year.
- Core Volunteers – One additional ticket for 30 hours (300-499 volunteer credits) of volunteering at the previous year’s Cocodona (two tickets for 50+ hours or 500 credits of volunteering). Volunteering prior to 2026 will not count towards a lottery ticket. Volunteer tickets may not be rolled over between years, they are only good for one lottery cycle. (Aid station captains, assistant captains and sport therapy volunteers earn credits at a higher rate determined by Aravaipa Running.)
Registration for the remaining races are as follows: Sedona Canyons 125, June 3; Bradshaw Brute 100, June 4; Mingus Traverse 80, June 5; Flagstaff Crest 40, June 6.
Watch: The Cutoff Film
The Cutoff, a film from Dylan Harris, follows the runners at the back of the pack during 2025 Cocodona 250. While most race documentaries focus on the winners, this film tells a different story. One about perseverance, community, and what it means to push yourself to the absolute limit when time is running out. As Aravapia Running says, it’s a film for the rest of us.
Watch: Year of The Storm: The 2025 Cocodona 250 Supercut
This supercut brings together the most powerful moments from the 2025 “Cocodona Chronicles” video series. From the relentless pace of the front-runners to the heartwarming and inspiring perseverance found throughout the pack, witness runners from all walks of life tackle this Arizona classic. All footage was captured and edited by the Tony Hill (@tonyofthehills). Whether you followed the race live or are new to this epic adventure, prepare to be inspired by the human spirit pushed to its limits.
- How to Train for Western States, According to Data and Coaches
- 20 Great Midwest Trail Running Races This Summer
- 6 Exciting Things About the 2026 Broken Arrow Skyrace
- 7 Great Trail Shoes for Technical Mountain Running Races
- Yep, You Are a Runner. Even When You’re Not Running.
- Trail Tested: Mount to Coast H1
