In May, Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250 ultramarathon, a long, grueling running race that takes days and nights, for the third time. She is the only third-time winner of this race and is best known for her trail and mountain racing.

Rachel Entrekin was born on June 17, 1991, and has been crowned the “Queen of Cocodona for her three
consecutive wins in 2024, 2025, and 2026. She describes herself as a “vibes-based” runner.
The Cocodona 250 is also one of the hardest ultramarathons in the world, since the runners race across deserts, forests, and the mountains of Arizona. The race is so tough that by the end, some runners are so tired they start hallucinating, or seeing things that aren’t there, like maybe an oasis since they are thirsty, but there is no oasis.

This phenomena is caused by lack of rest. Many runners do not even finish the race.
Entrekin started running in 2009, and she is 34 right now. Since she started, she has been running longer and longer distances. She says that she loves to run up mountains, mostly because of the scenery and beauty of them, especially in Arizona.

This year, Entrekin had a good race, and even she was surprised by her results. Her time was almost eight hours faster than her time last year, and she broke the course record by around two hours. In fact, she was an hour and eighteen minutes faster than this year’s fastest man.

Some news reports even highlighted that she stopped to pet dogs during the race, which shows that she even has a heart for cute things while running a ultramarathon and barely stopping to sleep. Each of her naps was only about seven minutes, and she had to sleep on the ground. For food and drink, she ate mashed potatoes since they don’t require a lot of chewing.

Her legacy is a reminder that barriers can always be broken. “Why not try?” she asks. She believes a runner’s attitude towards the race is just as important as their athletic ability.

Sources:
News for Kids: https://newsforkids.net/articles/2026/05/27/entrekin-smashes-records-in-250-mile-race/
Running Insight: https://www.runninginsight.com/why-not-rache