Rachel Entrekin makes history in ultramarathon, beats every man in 3-day race

Callie Fin, USA TODAYFri, May 8, 2026 at 4:52 AM UTC

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Rachel Entrekin crosses the finish line at the Cocodona 250 Mile in 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds, a new course record.

“Why not you?” — That’s the mantra Rachel Entrekin repeated in her head as she made ultramarathon history.

Entrekin, 34, beat every man and woman in the Cocodona 250 Mile on Wednesday in Flagstaff, Arizona.

As she set a course record of 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds, she also ran faster than Kilian Korth, who set a men’s course record of 57:28:36.

Before Entrekin, no woman had ever won the event overall in the race’s history.

It was Entrekin’s third straight year winning the award, but she ran more than seven hours faster this time around.

After starting the race early Monday morning, Entrekin didn’t finish until Wednesday afternoon. Making the feat even more difficult, the course’s location forced Entrekin to endure the respiratory difficulties of high altitude. Flagstaff is elevated more than 38,000 feet.

Over her three days of domination, Entrekin reportedly stopped for sleep on just three separate occasions. Each nap was less than 10 minutes long for a total of 19 minutes of shut-eye, yet she somehow kept waking up to average a 13:20 mile pace — including the stops she took.

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To lead the pack, Entrekin said she had to will herself past negative thoughts.

In a post-race interview that was posted on social media, Entrekin admitted that she often wondered if she’d burn out, or if she was crazy for even trying.

“If anyone’s going to win this, why can’t it be you?” she recalled when asked about her mindset.

Entrekin isn’t the only woman to win an ultramarathon outright. Some comparable performers include Courtney Dauwalter, who won the 2017 Moab 240 miler and beat the field by 10 hours.

Jasmin Paris, a mother of three, stopped to pump breastmilk as she set an overall course record at the 2019 Montane Spine Race.

Tara Dower is the fastest person of any gender to complete the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail, after she completed the journey in 40 days, 18 hours, and 6 minutes.

“Maybe even especially women, we tend to talk ourselves out of even trying to do things because we think that we’re not qualified or we don’t have the experience or whatever,” Entrekin said. “But why not? Why not try?”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woman wins ultramarathon outright, makes history beating every man

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