Races
Cocodona 250
Black Canyon City to Flagstaff. Saguaro, mining road, red rock, then pine. Two hundred fifty-three miles. One hundred twenty-five hours.
The mountain
Start in the Sonoran. The Black Canyon Trail, then the Bradshaws on old mining roads that rattle the feet. Crown King. Whiskey Row in Prescott. Jerome on the hill. Clarkdale. Sedona. The Hangover. Arizona Trail into the pines. Over Mt Elden and into Flagstaff. Surface mix on the official page: forty-five percent single-track, forty-six double-track, nine pavement. Low point one thousand nine hundred ninety-six feet. High point nine thousand two hundred forty-one.
The work
You need days that start hot and finish cold. Rock, sand, and a pack you can still run in after midnight. Vert is almost thirty-nine thousand feet of gain. Sleep is a skill on a one hundred twenty-five hour clock. Train the first night as hard as the last climb.
Race morning
Five a.m. at Deep Canyon Ranch. A GPS device is mandatory. Twenty-one aid stations and four water drops. Most aid has a hot meal. Crew and drop bags are not at every stop. Crown King is the first real town. Plan water between the early drops. The private parcels on Fain Ranch and below Jerome are race-day only.
Watch outs
May heat at two thousand feet. Night freeze on Elden. Ball-bearing gravel in the Bradshaws. The Hangover is not a place to zone out. If you blow the first fifty in the sun, Flagstaff will not save you.
PR athletes
Who has raced this.
Alex Daniels