Entrekin Smashes Records in 250-Mile Race

Black Canyon City, Arizona —(Map)

In early May, Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250, an incredibly challenging 250-mile running race. She wasn’t just the first woman across the finish line. She beat the first man by over an hour, and broke the race record by almost two hours.

Ultra-marathons are extremely long running races. They’re often between 30 to 125 miles (50 and 200 kilometers) long – or longer. They’re often held in challenging places to run, like forests and mountains.

Cocodona is one of the world’s hardest ultra-marathons. The 250-mile (400-kilometer) race crosses the desert, mountains, and forests of Arizona. The runners go up and down over and over again. In all, they go up as much as if they were climbing a 7.35 mile (11.8 kilometer) mountain.

The race goes on for days – and nights – with the runners almost never stopping. As a result, runners can wind up exhausted, or even injured. They can get so tired that they start seeing things that aren’t there. The race is so tough that many people don’t finish.

Entrekin, who’s 34, started running in 2009. Over time, she began running longer and longer distances. Along the way, she discovered something about herself: “I love running up mountains,” she says. Entrekin has run lots of ultra-marathons, and won many of them. In fact, she won the Cocodona 250 last year.

But even she was surprised by her speed in this year’s race. She finished in 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds. That was nearly eight hours faster than her time last year. Her time broke the course record by almost two hours. And it was 1 hour and 18 minutes faster than this year’s fastest man.

Entrekin finished in 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds (above), almost eight hours faster than she ran last year. Her time broke the course record by almost two hours. And it was 1 hour and 18 minutes faster than this year’s fastest man.

Entrekin said she thought to herself, “I think I can do this, so why not?” She said she thought about all the races she had won before, and realized that she was “just as qualified” to be at the front of the race as anyone else.

That doesn’t mean it was easy. Entrekin had to keep running for nearly two and a half days without stopping. In all, she only slept for 19 minutes. She took three short naps – each one lasting just seven minutes or less. There was no bed. She simply slept on the ground.

To make sure her body had enough fuel for the run, she had to eat and drink regularly. But she had to do this while she was running, or on a very quick stop. Entrekin ate a whole lot of mashed potatoes, which were perfect for her situation. “You get tired of chewing,” she told the BBC.

Speed isn’t the only important thing in an ultra-marathon says Entrekin. She believes a runner’s attitude and their experience in handling tough situations are just as important. She thinks that might give women some advantages.

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

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Did You Know…?
Entrekin isn’t planning on taking much of a break. She’ll soon be headed to France, where she’ll be running in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc race this August. Luckily, that’s a short race – just 108 miles (174 kilometers).