Cocodona 250 – Scott Jenkins

Scott Jenkins – Cocodona 250

How are you feeling after Cocodona 250? 

It’s only just starting to sink in really. I finished the race then couldn’t get a hotel for the night, so I ended up staying in one of those hotels you see in horror films in the States. All I can remember after the race is going to this dingy hotel, looking at my feet and thinking, ‘how am I even going to begin to sort them out in this place?’

I went from there to Vegas for the night just to break up the drive to LA, then from there I flew back to London to start work on the Monday afternoon, so it was all a bit surreal. I worked for a week and a half in Liverpool and then came away on Wednesday last week. It’s only been the last couple of days where I’ve had time to sit and reflect, it was an incredible journey and an unbelievable race. 

Tell us a bit about the event 

The inaugural year took place in 2021. The first time they ran it, it went from Black Canyon City which is about 30-40 miles north of Phoenix, so you’re really down there in the desert. It’s super hot, super arid and dry. It’s a different kind of heat to what I experienced at Badwater last year. This one was really dry, it’s typical cactus land. The week before the race they had to reroute the first 60 miles, which is a testament to the race director, a guy called Steve Aderholt, and Aravaipa Running. They rerouted the race around an area called Prescott so we still did over 250 miles which is awesome. 

It started off on your typical nice, flowy track amongst some pine trees, the kind you’d imagine in America. Then it went out into 16 miles total out and back, it got really steep into five to seven-thousand-foot elevation mountains. The really cool thing about this race which I’ve experienced a few times is that it would just spit you out of mountains and trails somewhere into a neighbourhood. 

The first night, after it had been a super long day on the dusty trails in the pines, then you came into this town called Prescott and to a road called Whiskey Row. So, you’re running and you’ve got all these bars alongside you, then boom they put the aid station in amongst the bars there. When I came into the aid station, there was this typical Arizona cowboy saying “how’s it going man?” And I said, ”well I’m in Whiskey Row, I’m expecting to have a shot of something”. So he did, he went and found me a shot of whiskey and a slice of pizza and that set me up for the rest of the night.