Cocodona 250 Mile Race from Black Canyon to Flagstaff via Mt Elden

[sam_hikes]

1st year for this but some incredible drone coverage and camera crew running alongside was completed today in 72hrs for 250+ miles.

Livestream of event is on youtube as well as facebook. ( youtube chat & iphone coverage provided at times by actual race participants during their runs )

Cool to see the various views/angles of such vast landscape including live coverage of race leader as he hiked/ran up Mt Elden after midnight.

All 175 entrants carried Spot trackers which performed ok ( inreach with 2 minute tracking enabled would of been cool to see vs waiting on 2nd class Globalstar ) PLUS you can follow everyone realtime on their special tracking website available to all for this event.

Race started at 4am on Monday & the winner took a 3hr sleep break on Tuesday vs 2nd place person who did not & passed the winner for about 30 minutes before having to goto the hospital for rhabdo treatment where he remains under care.

2nd & 3rd place today where separated by minutes all night till Mt Elden where 3rd place was able to pull ahead as of last update.

Race ends for the rest today-Saturday in downtown Flagstaff.

[FOTG]

This made me about as excited as I get when someone announces a new r3 FTK, yawn.....

[sam_hikes]

Not my cup of tea either but I know we have lots of AZT+Crown King+Prescott+Verde Valley+Sedona+Mt Elden & dog fans which were spotlighted/livestreamed throughout.

Several crews had their dogs and families along to re-energize them as crew while there are stopped at major checkpoints along the course.

Appears all of the towns were very supportive of the race except for some reason they advertised ZERO coverage would be allowed in/around Jerome per the town.

Used to be marathons & extremely long hikes were impressive but this 250 mile event brings things to a new level including having the well known super woman Courtney Dauwalter crew various runners during this race. Recently she tried racing from Durango to Denver and made it 300 miles with zero sleep before having to visit the ER/abort due to severe bronchitis.

Common thread appears to be ER visits but I read where one winner recently did the Lake Tahoe 200 miler in 50 hours with zero sleep.

[SpiderLegs]

Trail racing, FKT's, peak bagging, backcountry bushwhacking and all other forms of enjoying the trails in Arizona inspire me. It's a pretty cool route that Aravaipa Running strung together from Black Canyon City up to Flagstaff. I've been watching some of the livestream and the scenery in spots is amazing.

[chumley]

I've been watching some of the livestream and the scenery in spots is amazing.

I find great irony in this statement given that anybody making their way from BCC to Flag as quickly as possible clearly has no interest in seeing any of the amazing scenery they're passing through.

[ShatteredArm]

I got a kick out of the guy from Florida who thought he could do this in road shoes, and bailed at Crown King (mile 37) with completely shredded soles.

[nonot]

If the soles of your shoes wear out after 37 miles, those are some poor quality shoes, no matter what type of shoes they are.

[azbackpackr]

Yet one more abuse of public land to boost some people's egos.

[ShatteredArm]

abuse of public land

How so?

[azbackpackr]

@ShatteredArm

Too many people about. Also, it's adding to the notion that the outdoors should be used like a sports arena or gym, rather than as a quiet home for animals and trees. I have been to a lot of mountain bike races as part of a first aid team, 20 or so years ago, when I volunteered for a youth group. I began to form my opinion during that time. Also, I don't care much for any type of competitive sports, so that is another bias I have. I think it's harmful for kids to be taught that winning and losing are important, rather than experience, skill and enjoyment.

[chumley]

@ShatteredArm
The larger the group, the greater the impact.

The FS requires permits for groups over 75 because without management strategies in place the impact exceeds whatever threshold the FS determined was too great. From most accounts, the company that put on this event is a reasonable partner and the FS continues to approve their event permits (of course, there's plenty of $$ involved in those permit decisions). But I'd be lying to you if I said I haven't seen remnant trash and trail flags and ribbons strewn about the forest weeks and months after an Aravaipa Running event was held there. It's an event management company that profits from organizing events on public land.

[ALMAL]

@azbackpackr
I don't know the winner or if he is boastful in his win, but I think 250 miles on foot, and those particular 250 miles, in 3 days speaks for itself. Seems just as impressive as someone who can spend 60 days out in the woods with nothing but a pocket knife. Just two very different races with very different paces.

[sam_hikes]

I don't know the winner or if he is boastful in his win, but I think 250 miles on foot, and those particular 250 miles, in 3 days speaks for itself. Seems just as impressive as someone who can spend 60 days out in the woods with nothing but a pocket knife. Just two very different races with very different paces.

Not a fan but heard about this event about a month ago from 2 guys training for it on Mt Ord who struggled to complete a Mt Ord double. ( no idea if they were able to complete the 250 miles )

I had no idea people were doing 250 mile events especially with the heat this week and over 100+ men & many women were able to complete it as last guy standing from Tempe completed the 250+ miles in just over 5 days.

Very cool to see so many woman completing 250 miles as they are just as strong and often stronger than the men at these extreme distances.

There's an entire other world of youtube videos created documenting some of extreme feats which I wasn't aware of till they livestreamed the first 3 days of this event which provide interesting insight into the vast landscapes and realtime course video interviews from the participants iphones.

Used to be 100 miles was alot but now 200 miles is becoming more common and this at 250+ miles with heat and elevation change is crazy. A small number of these crazy souls also through hike the AZT as well as even the Appalachian Trail in very few days.

For maybe 25 this was likely a race but for the other 100 I suspect it was a long hike/slog and I'm surprised they all didn't need to be hospitalized due to the impacts of such a feat traveling from Black Canyon City and finishing in downtown Flag after a slog up Mt Elden.

[azbackpackr]

All this could be true but it doesn't change my basic feelings. If I I go out for a hike I don't want to accidentally run into a bunch of people in a race, or their accompanying vehicular or pedestrian entourages.

[hiking_arizona]

All this could be true but it doesn't change my basic feelings. If I I go out for a hike I don't want to accidentally run into a bunch of people in a race, or their accompanying vehicular or pedestrian entourages.

I doubt many even noticed a few extra people as from the spot tracker they were all miles apart from one another once they reached Crown King to Mt Elden often on forest roads not frequented by very many over a span of several days often in remote areas.

Most of the popular hiking spots in the Phx area see more people often in a span of a few hours.

[azbackpackr]

@hiking_arizona
I have never hiked any of the popular hikes in Phoenix. Not a single one in 35 years of living in Arizona . Anyway I was talking about my feelings. I'm allowed to have my feelings.

[ShatteredArm]

@chumley
I've run on courses the week after many of their events, and I think it would be disingenuous to state that those events increase the amount of trash in any meaningful way. I have seen stray course markings hanging in trees weeks after events (which I always pull down), but I see flagging on trees all the time that's used for who-knows-what.

I'm really not a fan of that company for other reasons, but events like that are very low on the list of the most impactful things that go on in public lands. Camping is a far more impactful activity, and I don't think anybody here should suggest that that is an abuse of public land.

[ShatteredArm]

If I I go out for a hike I don't want to accidentally run into a bunch of people in a race, or their accompanying vehicular or pedestrian entourages.

If I'm in a race, I don't want to accidentally run into a bunch of people out for a hike. But unfortunately, you have to share public lands with the rest of the public.

[chumley]

I don't think anybody here should suggest that that is an abuse of public land.

I absolutely think camping is an abuse when done in sizes like that. Fifth-wheel RV cities are plentiful and I wish the FS had the resources to prevent them.

[Alston_Neal]

Speaking for myself, I think the real frustration here is that there are still people capable of running.