250 miles. Rachel Entrekin has become the first woman to win Cocodona 250 overall, doing it faster than anyone, man or woman, ever has. Rachel is rewriting history and ending debates. The sport will never be the same. Photography @somerrunner
250 miles. Rachel Entrekin has become the first woman to win Cocodona 250 overall, doing it faster than anyone, man or woman, ever has. Rachel is rewriting history and ending debates. The sport will never be the same. Photography @somerrunner
In a brutal 253-mile race from Black Canyon City to downtown Flagstaff, Rachel Entrekin crossed the finish line in just 56:09:50, becoming the first woman ever to finish first overall.
Post breaking the record, she got emotional about what it meant for her to win the Cocodona 250.
“I didn't expect to be like a pinnacle or champion for women's sports and like what I just got to be a part of. So yeah, it's pretty incredible,” the 34-year-old said in a video clip shared by ABC News on X.
Entrekin reflected on the mindset that carried her through the brutal 253-mile race, which began early Monday morning and ended with her crossing the finish line around midday on Wednesday.
“Somebody has to win so why not believe that it could be you?” Rachel Entrekin said after finishing the race.
She smashed her own women’s course record of 63:50:55 from last year and broke Dan Green’s overall course record of 58:47:18 set in 2025. And she had a strategy behind that,
Inside Rachel Entrekin’s 19-Minute Sleep Marathon
Rachel's performance became even more unbelievable considering she slept for only 19 minutes across three days, taking just three short naps under 10 minutes each while still maintaining an incredible 13:20 mile pace.
“I was basically sleep running,” Entrekin admitted.
"I slept five minutes, then seven minutes, then seven minutes. My goal was to only have dirt naps,” she explained in her post-race interview.
However, there was also a 6-person support crew, including her parents, helping her push through the exhaustion.
Rachel stayed ahead of men’s leader Kilian Korth for more than 24 hours during the race before extending her lead in the final 50 miles, while Korth later finished in a men’s course-record time of 57:28:36.
While Rachel Entrekin’s strategy helped her dominate the race, Courtney Dauwalter followed in second place with a timing of 61:58:35, while Megan Eckert finished third.
In the men’s category, Cody Poskin finished second, while DJ Fox took third in 59:29:03.
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Written by
Sauramita Debbarma
Edited by
Koushik Biswas