Rachel Entrekin Smashes Records in the Cocodona 250

After running through various places in Arizona, Rachel crosses the finish line, winning the challenging Cocodona 250 with stunning records. She expressed her feelings after the race by saying, “I basically wept from the second I got off the single track until I crossed the finish line.”

The Cocodona is one of the most challenging ultra-marathons in the world. An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles – and they tend to wear out competitors greatly. The 250-mile race crosses Arizona’s deserts, forests, and mountains. Runners go up and down repetitively for days and nights, without stopping, until they cross the finish line. However, due to exhaustion, and even injuries, many runners don’t make it to the end of the race.

34 – year old Rachel Entrekin, born June 17, 1991 in Birmingham, Alabama, is an American elite ultramarathon runner. Rachel is best known for her performances in long-distance trail and mountain racing, and is the only person to win the Cocodona 250 3 times.

Rachel won the Cocodona 205 in 2024, 2025, and 2026 – and is also the first woman to ever cross the finish line. Her records are also dazzling. Rachel beat the first man to cross the finish line by an hour, and beat the race record by almost two hours. She was also 1 hour 18 minutes faster than this year’s fastest man. Rachel took 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds to finish the race, which was 8 hours faster than her time last year. It even surprised Rachel herself. “I finished, I won the race, but I was really in a negative headspace, and I wasn’t excited. I didn’t see what I had just done,” she said.

“Somewhere around mile 200, I slept for five minutes at an aid station,” she told BBC. “Then around 230 miles, I took two seven-minute naps on the floor. And food, it’s impossible to say how much I ate but as far as real food goes, I had a lot of mashed potatoes.” Rachel also kept herself fuelled with energy gels, rice, sweets, and broth on her way to the finish line. She even had the capacity to finish her race with a sprint.

Rachel says she hopes people will stop measuring women’s success by comparing them to men. She believes women shouldn’t stop trying things just because they aren’t sure about success. “Why not try?” she asks.

Although Rachel will be taking a break after Cocodona, she already has her mind on her next race, which is the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France. It is a 108 mile race, which would probably feel like a stroll in comparison to Cocodona.