Punishing race pushes athletes from the desert to the Peaks.
A sliver of moon hid on the predawn horizon as hundreds of runners lined up in Black Canyon City for the start of the Cocodona 250 footrace to Flagstaff. It was windy and 40 degrees at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 6.
Watches set, the pack burst out of the starting chute down a dusty trail, headlamps bobbing as they took the first turn. The well-trained runners then climbed the first of many hills on the way to Crown King, Prescott, Jerome, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Sedona, Munds Park, Walnut Canyon, Mount Elden and finally to the finish line at Flagstaff’s Heritage Square.
We watched as the ultramarathon runners spread out along the trail. “We” being my wife, Taffy, and daughter, Kelly. We were support crew and pacers for our son, Austin, who was running 150 miles longer than he’d ever run before in an ultramarathon. He started Cocodona on his 30th birthday and hoped to complete the 250-mile trek in about 90 hours, or just under four days.
Austin took to trail running five years ago as an extension of hiking. He said he could cover more ground and see more of Arizona’s beautiful scenery.
“You can stop and take it all in and say, ‘Wow! This is incredible. Look where I am!’”
That happened on the first day of Cocodona at sunset in the Prescott National Forest after 14 hours on the trail over the Bradshaw Mountains.
Still, for much of Cocodona’s 250-mile trek, it’s heads down in order for runners to pick a safe path on rocky trails.
Nevertheless, the elite runners covered the distance in roughly two-and-a-half to three days. Cooler than normal weather was a plus this year, especially on Monday’s climb from the desert to Crown King.
Harry Subertas of Haines, Arkansas won Cocodona 250 with a new course record of 59 hours, 50 minutes, 55 seconds, shaving 10 minutes off the previous record set by Michael McKnight.
Jeff Browning of Flagstaff was runner-up, with a time of 60:19:57. Arlen Glick of Massillon, Ohio, came in third, about 90 seconds behind Browning.
Rachel Entrekin of Los Angeles was the first woman to cross the finish line, in 73:31:25. Manuela Vilaseca, a Brazilian living in Spain, was second, at 78:04:35, followed by Kylie Drugan-Eppich of Lafayette, Colorado, at 80:04:55.
Those exceptional athletes are among the highlights of Cocodona, covering the distance in what seem like super-human times. But there is so much else going on in this event. Hundreds of runners challenged themselves to reach the finish line before the 125-hour cutoff.
Some runners go solo, but many others rely on support crews and pacers to keep them running, with breaks for food, water, changing clothes and shoes, as well as sleeping an hour or two.
Caravans of support crews move from one aid station to the next, relying on texts and electronic trackers to show where the runners are on the course. Crowded aid-station parking lots are full of SUVs, pickups, Subarus, rental RVs and tall Sprinter vans.
A woman on Prescott’s Whiskey Row wondered if there was a van life convention in town, since there were so many support crews in vans parked along Montezuma Street.
One could say it takes a village to help these runners complete Cocodona. That includes dozens of Aravaipa Running volunteers and the ultramarathon community that bonds during these events.
All of these runners have their own stories of taking on the Cocodona trail.
Greg Secatero, 49, of Kayenta, entered the race for the second year in a row after starting ultrarunning 25 months ago. He finished in just over 114 hours, shaving three hours and 14 minutes off his time in the 2023 race.
“It’s a tough gig, you know,” Secatero said of Cocodona. “I’m just happy I improved from last year.”
Secatero said he was a little sore but went back at work on Monday. He is employed by the Navajo Nation Police Department as captain of the Criminal Investigation Department.
A native of Alamo, New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation southwest of Albuquerque, Secatero served three years in the U.S. Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Anne Tisdell, 36, from near the New River Gorge in West Virginia, completed Cocodona in 92:55:49, finishing 10th among women and 55th overall. She was women’s runner-up to Sally McRae last year at the Moab 240.
“She’s a tough-minded person. Once she sets her sights on something, there’s not much that’s going to detract her,” said her father, Mark Stablein, who was her support crew with her mother, Kay, husband, Tyler Tisdell, and friend, Keith Munch.
The family tacks on vacation days before and after Anne’s races and will be back in Arizona in 2025 for the Arizona Monster 300 next April.
Our son, Austin, shot video for live-stream coverage of Aravaipa Running’s first Cocodona 250 in 2021. He also paced and crewed for his partner, Carrie Henderson, the past two years. This year they ran together to Prescott — mile 78 — arriving in just under 24 hours.
Henderson, 34, of Flagstaff, then picked up her pace and ultimately finished fourth among women, with a time of 83:37:40.
Austin relied on six pacers to navigate the course and keep him going.
That included Alex Lam, Tyler Peterson, Crawford Loper and David Wallace. Kelly Corbett paced Austin on a 21.5-mile leg overnight from Jerome to Deer Pass between Cottonwood and Sedona. Taffy, the family running matriarch at age 71, paced Austin on a 17-mile trek from Fort Tuthill to near Walnut Canyon National Monument.
He finished the race about 1:40 a.m. Friday with a group of friends, family and co-workers from Kahtoola cheering him across the finish line. His time was 92:29:32. It was exhilarating and emotional for me seeing him cross the finish line — with a smile on his face.
“I’m proud of myself for putting in the training,” he said. “There was never a time that I thought I would quit. I felt accountable to everyone who had done all they could to get me to the finish line.”
Aravaipa Running has staged the Cocodona 250 for four years. This year, 250 runners tested their endurance, speed-hiking and running across Arizona mostly on single and double-track trails. Forty-two runners did not finish.
The 250-mile distance is the equivalent of running nine-and-a-half marathons in row.
The youngest finisher was 17-year-old Brody Chisolm of Salem, New Hampshire. He was 12th overall, with a time of 75:49:52.
Two 73-year-old men completed Cocodona: Michael Koppy in 106:06:16 and Terry Gardiner in 117:30:28.
The punishing Cocodona 250 course traverses Arizona’s Sonoran Desert to alpine terrain with an elevation gain of 40,000 feet and decline of nearly 35,000 feet. It starts with a steep climb into the Bradshaw Mountains to the former mining camp of Crown King at 5,771 feet and down the other side to Prescott. Next is a climb up 7,800-foot Mingus Mountain and down into Jerome.
Runners then cross the Verde Valley into Sedona before an ascent of the Mogollon Rim to Munds Park and on to Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff. The final climb up Mount Elden tops out at 9,300 feet at mile 241, leaving nine miles to the finish line – after several days on the trail with little sleep.
Aravaipa Running also stages the Sedona Canyon 125 and Elden Crest 38, which coincide with the 250-mile race. The Sedona race had 207 runners and the Mount Elden run included 191 participants.
The 650 runners and crews in the three races came from more than 40 states. The majority of them are from Arizona, California, Colorado and other Western states. The field also included 45 international runners.
Discover Flagstaff, the local tourism office and a Cocodona sponsor, sees the event as enhancing the city’s reputation as a hub of high-altitude endurance training. Since 1996, about 350 Olympians and Paralympians have trained in Flagstaff. Currently, there are seven Olympic teams training in Flagstaff for running, cycling and swimming, said Trace Ward, Discover Flagstaff director.
Cocodona is also an economic boost to Northern Arizona and the communities along the route, including Prescott, Jerome, Cottonwood and Sedona.
Discover Flagstaff estimates the race’s economic impact on Flagstaff at $250,000 from 500 hotel room nights, restaurants and other ancillary spending, Ward said.
Cocodona Race Director Steve Aderholt estimated that Aravaipa Running spent about $325,000 on infrastructure, permits, staffing and contractors to stage the races. FBN
By Peter Corbett, FBN
Courtesy Photo: Pacers James McKenzie and Liz McKenzie support runner Greg Secatero.