A number of FKT holder Joe McConaughy, 30, of Seattle has gained the second Cocodona 250 extremely in Arizona in 59 hours 28 minutes, shattering Michael Versteeg’s inaugural course file from 2021 of 72 hours, 34 minutes. Michael McKnight, 32, of Smithfield, Utah completed as second male and third general in 65 hours, 39 minutes. Annie Hughes, 24, of Leadville, Colo. was third general, with a time of 71 hours, 13 minutes, and Matt Smith, 41, of Huge Bear Metropolis, Calif., was third male, in 73 hours, one minute.
Lauren Jones of Atlanta was the second girl to reach in Flagstaff, in 78:34:16. She was twelfth general. Sarah Ostaszewski of Flagstaff was third, in 84:21:24.
Versteeg, who has lived in a number of cities alongside the route and nonetheless lives in Prescott, began this 12 months’s race as nicely, however was pressured to drop out after a couple of miles resulting from a again damage. “Seizing up and riddled with ache, I simply couldn’t do it this 12 months,” he stated on Instagram. “I actually simply needed to be part of what I see changing into the premier American endurance foot race.”
The course follows a 250-mile (402.5 km) route from Black Canyon Metropolis to Flagstaff, beginning within the desert and climbing 10,000 toes (3,048 m) within the first 50 km. It was the brainchild of Aravaipa Operating’s Jamil Coury and Anthony Culpepper as a strategy to create a difficult route linking lots of their favorite Arizona cities and trails, and traversing mountains, valleys, ponderosa pine forests, desert grasslands, lakes and distinctive rock formations.
Hughes has racked up a formidable variety of podium finishes within the three years she’s been racing on the extremely scene, together with the 2020 Bryce Canyon 100 miler (third) and final 12 months’s Leadville Path 100 and Moab 240, each of which she gained, lower than two months aside. She additionally gained the Coldwater Rumble 100 miler in January 2022.
McConaughy holds the self-supported FKT on the Appalachian Path (northbound), which he set in 2017 at 45 days, 12 hours, quarter-hour. He held the FKT on the Pacific Crest Path from 2014 to 2016, and final 12 months he set the file on the 800-mile Arizona Path, which little doubt got here in useful this week as a part of the Cocodona course follows the path.
The race needed to be partially rerouted within the hours main as much as Tuesday’s begin, as a result of Crooks hearth burning close to Prescott–considered one of many doable nightmares for a race director however one which appears to not have dampened the keenness of the members in any method.
Congrats to Canada’s Stephanie Simpson, who completed fifth within the ladies’s race (twenty fourth general), in 89 hours, 46 minutes, 29 seconds.
On the time of writing, there have been nonetheless scores of runners on the course. For extra outcomes, click on right here.
