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The key to breaking a course record for a 250 mile ultramarathon?
Mashed potatoes, and 19 minutes worth of sleep on the ground.
That’s what fueled Rachel Entrekin in her historic run at the Cocodona 250 in Arizona as the American won the overall race — men included — in a record-breaking time of 56 hours, nine minutes and 48 seconds.
“Somewhere around mile 200, I fell asleep for five minutes at an aid station,” the 34-year-old told BBC Sport the morning after his success.
“Then about 230 miles in, I took two seven-minute naps on the floor. And the food, it’s impossible to say how much I ate but as far as actual food goes, I had a lot of mashed potatoes.
“Mashed potatoes are the best. You get tired of chewing and you don’t want to expend any extra energy doing it.”
Entrekin fueled up with plenty of energy gels, sweets, rice and broth along the way and even had the ability to sprint to the finish.
The morning after the race, after sleeping from 11pm to 6.30am, there was refueling and cheering on the other runners over the finish line.
She was supported on the course by a six-person team that included her parents, and it was her third consecutive victory, having won the women’s event in 2024 and 2025.
“Men and women obviously have very different skills, but in an event like this, it comes down to a lot more than just fitness,” Enterkin said.
“Your attitude and ability to deal with stress is very important, they’re at least as important as how physically fit you are, so I think the field is much more level in something like this.”
