Why are so many people suddenly interested in running nonstop for 250 Miles through the Arizona desert?
More than a thousand spectators are glued to the livestream window as Andrew Glaze of Redlands, CA clicks the green button on his phone screen to confirm his registration for the 2024 Cocodona 250 Mile Endurance Run held the first week of May in Central Arizona. Glaze is Insta-famous-- or perhaps more accurately, Strava-famous-- for his 100-mile-per-week running streak, which today has been going for more than four years straight. But this is an afterthought for spectators as they watch him hit the green button; what's interesting about Glaze's registration is that he's currently running, somewhere around Mile 160 of the *2023* Cocodona 250 Mile Endurance Run.
Fast-forward a year and the ultra running community is still reflecting and recovering from a week of excitement over Cocodona's 2024 edition, which ended less than two weeks ago. And on Monday, the 2025 Cocodona 250 sold out, plus over 200 additional names that are already on the waitlist to get into next year's event.
Cocodona is a self-described "graduate-level race", per their 2023 Runner's Guide, where athletes run 250 miles, through deserts and towns, as well as over mountain passes, from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff, Arizona in an epic and scenic point-to-point running journey. Once the clock starts on Monday morning in Black Canyon City, runners head out to see how quickly, and on how little sleep, they can get to Flagstaff. They have just a little over 5 days to complete the trip, and even the fastest runners will take at least two and a half days. It's regularly described by racers as unfathomably long, scorching hot during the day, freezing at night, and all-around exhausting.
So, why is everyone in such a hurry to run 250 miles?
"200 is the new 100"
Ultra running in the United States is a relatively new concept in the United States compared to that of "sub-ultra" running events, meaning any race from about 100 meters to the marathon. Ultra running only started to gain some interest in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the first sponsored athletes wouldn't appear for at least another decade. A growing number of ultramarathons began to appear all over the world through the 1990s and early 2000s, a boom in ultra running event creation that continues today. Races of 100+ miles became the premier events of the sport as it pushed athletes to extremes that were previously unimaginable. Many 100+ mile races took the top athletes between 15 and 24 hours to finish, and many more athletes took 24 to 36 hours.
If ultra running is young though, then 200+ mile racing is maybe just starting to move beyond infancy. The first continuous 200 mile running race, the Tor de Geants in Italy's Aosta Valley, was held in 2010, and remains the most formidable 200 mile race in the world with its 80,000+ft elevation gain and loss. The first 200 Mile race in North America appeared three years later in 2013 with the Tahoe 200, put on by the race organization Destination Trail, which is now famous for its "Triple Crown" of 200+ Mile footraces: Bigfoot 200 in the Cascades of Washington State, Tahoe 200 at Lake Tahoe in California, and Moab 240 Mile across the Colorado Plateau and up into the La Sal Mountains in Utah.
While professional athletes at the traditional ultramarathon distances of 50K to 100 miles were just starting to attract enough sponsorship money to make ultra running their full time profession, 200+ mile races remained in relative anonymity. Even to experienced ultramarathon runners the 200 Mile distance is an astoundingly long and demanding foot race, which take runners between 3 and 5 days of nonstop foot travel to complete. From 2013 to present, 200+ mile events simply haven't received enough media attention for professional athletes and company sponsors to take them seriously.
But that might be changing.
Emergence of Cocodona 250
The Cocodona 250 Mile appeared on the map as the world battled to re-orient from a pandemic, and the inaugural event began on Monday, May 3rd, 2021.
Cocodona 250 , which is named for the prominent regions it runs through of Sedona and the Coconino Plateau, was the latest addition to the roster of race organizer Aravaipa Running, based in Phoenix, Arizona. Aravaipa was founded in 2009 and has steadily grown its running event offering over its 15 year history, today hosting more than 50 events across the United States annually. Cocodona 250 marked their first event at the 200+ mile racing distance.*
"Cocodona for me is a celebration of my home state and tying together all of these awesome, historic towns across central Arizona and then connecting all the landscapes in between. We wanted to include as many towns as we could and really embrace the towns — so run right down Main Street, if at all possible," Avavaipa founder and Cocodona ideator Jamil Coury told Possessed Magazine ahead of the inaugural running. "The logistics of this one are daunting. There's probably over 60 permits to pull together between all the cities, towns, private lands, federal lands and parks and things — so logistically, it's just the biggest thing we've ever taken on."
"Cocodona for me is a celebration of my home state and tying together all of these awesome, historic towns across central Arizona and then connecting all the landscapes in between. "
From the perspective of the trail and ultra running community, Cocodona was different from the start. Many ultramarathons pride themselves on being remote and disconnected from the modern world, but Cocodona strings together as many towns along it's route as Aravaipa could manage, and just about every minute of the event is broadcast on their five-day livestream of the event. There are cameramen, commentators, and drones filming runners whether they're coming through town or descending from one of the several mountain passes on the route, whether they're the first place runner or the last. The route makes for a strong community as runners are allowed to have a pacer with them every step of the race after about Mile 80, and are able to meet their crew frequently as well; about once every 10-15 miles. For every one racer, there's liable to be a crew of 2-5 family members or friends out in support.
Of the 173 runners starting the 2021 event, 108 managed to complete the full 250+mile route, led by Michael Versteeg who finished in 72 hours and 50 minutes, and Maggie Guterl with a finishing time of 85 hours and 30 minutes.
*Aravaipa also hosts a number of time-based events rather than distance-based, during which runners have exceeded the 200 mile distance
Getting On with the Fascination: The Future of Cocodona
Today the week-long event that is Cocodona has a strong cult-like following of those who have run, paced, crewed, or simply spectated over the last four years. The event grew in 2023 from its original 250 Mile event to include more "accessible" distances, with the Sedona Canyons 125 Mile and the Elden Crest 38. The 2024 Cocodona livestream saw anywhere from two to six thousand viewers at any given moment over the five and a half day race, marking a possible inflection point for interest in the event and 200+ mile racing, both by athletes and product sponsors.
At this year's event, we saw more well known sponsored athletes toe the line than ever before, as well as a growing representation for trail and ultra running media outlets. Alongside elites like Arlen Glick, Jeff Browning, and Mika Thewes and we saw top 10 finishes by 3-time Cocodona finisher and host of the Distance to Empty podcast, Kevin Goldberg (10th), and Singletrack podcast host Finn Melanson (7th). And with just four miles to go, after more than 245 miles of running, we saw a neck-and-neck fight for first place at this year's race, captured by Haroldas Subertas of Haines, AK (in a 10-hour course record).
While the 2024 Cocodona 250 didn't sell out until early 2024 (due to a reduction in permit availability, rather than the sale of existing entry slots), the 2025 Cocodona 250 is already sold out just 10 days after the 2024 event concluded, with hundreds more still waiting to see if they will get an invite.
Melanson considers the event in a recent episode of the Singletrack podcast where he reviews his experience at this year's event, reflecting on the growing interest and competition. "I'm convinced that I'm going extinct. People will not be able to hike their way to a top 10 finish at this race the way I did this year, ever again."
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