Kevin Taddonio remained out front of the 2026 Cocodona 250 on Tuesday morning, the second day of Aravaipa Running’s 253-mile Arizona crossing, but the gap behind him is shrinking. The newcomer still held the men’s lead approaching the climb out of the Verde Valley, with 2025 200 Triple Crown champion Kilian Korth and Courtney Dauwalter now firmly inside the chase pack and matching his splits through the night sections.
Taddonio took the race out aggressively from the Black Canyon City start on Monday, opening more than half an hour over Korth before the field reached Crown King and the high pines above Prescott. The mid-pack expectation that he would fade through the cold overnight stretch into Mingus Mountain has not materialised, however, and tracking data on the Aravaipa live page now shows him moving at sub-15-minute miles on the runnable descents toward Jerome.
Behind him, the women’s race has the early shape many predicted. Reigning Cocodona champion Rachel Entrekin sits second to Dauwalter, who is again proving she can hammer the runnable lower trail while staying within striking distance of the lead pack overall. Two-time Cocodona champion Joe McConaughy and 18-year-old Elliot Chisholm are also in the front group, with McConaughy in particular looking patient on the long uphill grades.
Conditions for the first 24 hours have favoured fast running. Cloud cover and daytime highs in the upper teens Celsius let the front group push the descents without overheating, and the cooler-than-average overnight on Mingus appears to have helped sleep-deprived runners hold pace through the dawn. The forecast across central Arizona for the rest of the week is for a steady warm-up, with highs near 30°C from Wednesday onwards once the field reaches the high desert around Sedona and Munds Park.
The cut-off remains 125 hours, expiring at 10:00am local time on Saturday, May 9, with Walnut Creek and Flagstaff still to come. Aravaipa’s livestream and trackleaders feed will continue to update through the day, and Running Lookout will return with a leaderboard recap once the front group clears Sedona later on Tuesday afternoon.