Courtney Dauwalter steps up in distance as the GOAT tackles 250-mile Cocodona

The ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter has confirmed she’s on track for the Cocodona 250 in May.

The American superstar has raised the bar for women’s running in recent years and has been unstoppable over the 100-mile distance.

In 2023 she completed an unprecedented treble of 100-mile wins at Western States, Hardrock and then UTMB.

And then last year she defended her Hardrock title, one of five victories in an undefeated campaign.

But Katie Schide in particular has responded to the challenge of matching Dauwalter and completed the Western States – UTMB double in 2024.

Either Dauwalter or Schide have won UTMB – trail running’s biggest event – in each of the last five editions and there’s the tantalising prospect they could take each other on in this year’s renewal in Chamonix.

Going long

But before then there’s the serious matter of a 250-mile event for Dauwalter, the longest race she’s tackled since she won the women’s title and was second overall at the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run in 2018.

She did bid for a FKT (fastest known time) on the 486-mile Colorado Trail in 2020 and was almost two thirds of the way in before being forced to stop due to acute bronchitis.

That was the same year she won the Big’s Backyard Ultra in Tennessee by running 283.33 miles – or 68 laps.

‘Missing my hallucinated friends lately!’

And writing on her Instagram account, she posted: “Craving a BIG adventure and missing my hallucinated friends lately! 🐆😅

“Doing Cocodona 250 – a 250 mile race from Phoenix to Flagstaff in May – should fix that!🌵⛰️🎉

“I haven’t run a race over 200 miles since 2020 Big’s Backyard, and in general don’t have a ton of experience at the distance.

“But something about those multi day events keeps me really intrigued. What’s possible?! Standing on a start line knowing you have multiple sleepless nights, thousands of footsteps, and inevitable problem-solving ahead of you feels so cool. Let’s go! 👣

“What’s a big goal you’re chasing in 2025?”