FEATURE
4 MINS 29 SECONDS
Arizona ultra offers Ryan Sandes his toughest challenge yet!
Red Bull athlete and world-renowned ultra-runner Ryan Sandes has taken on his toughest endurance challenge yet. The Cocodona 250, a 250-mile( 400 km) non-stop trail race across Arizona in the US, which took place from 5-10 May 2025. Roxanne Martin chatted to Ryan a few days before the start about preparing for the longest race of his career. And then, as we wrapped up this issue we got the amazing news that he’ d finished second overall! We’ ll have more on that achievement and Ryan’ s post-race reflections in our next issue.
First, some context: the Cocodona is a point-to-point ultra over 250 miles( 400 km). The race has a time cap of 150 hours. Looking at those figures, it may sound almost easy. It’ s not. You’ re running over some of the harshest territory the US has to offer, from Arizona’ s desert landscapes to the Coconino National Forest in the state’ s northern region. The route traverses rugged mountains, extreme desert landscapes, temperature fluctuations and relentless elevation gains. find new challenges and new adventures,” he explains.“ A race like Cocodona is the perfect blend of race and adventure.”
We chat further about what a mammoth task the race itself is and what he has gone through to build his body up to this point. Still, there is only so much preparation that can be done; there will be a point where it goes further than he can plan for. How does he feel about that?
Ryan is no stranger to adventure projects. Still, I want to know why he’ s attempting one of the world’ s most gruelling foot races.
“ To be honest, I thought after racing 100 miles( in one go), that would be the end of my racing career. But I guess that’ s what’ s really cool about the sport, something that’ s always attracted me, is the unknown. I constantly
“ I don’ t know how I’ m going to handle two or three nights of no sleep, or how I am going to be able to cover the distance. It’ s a big unknown, what’ s going to happen to me physically and mentally. But, for me, that’ s the really exciting part.”
At a recent Salomon training camp, Ryan was able to pick the brains of some of the world’ s best. François D’ Haene, winner of the 2024 Tor des Géants( a 330 km race in Italy), was among them.
“ He told me that it is so important to focus on running your own race for as long as possible. So my strategy is going to be to just really focus on my own race, but also to be aware of what’ s going on around me.”
A race like Cocodona attracts the best of the best that trail running has to offer. Runners like Harry Subertas, Michael Versteeg and Michael McKnight will all be on the trail running to win. How does Ryan feel about competing against runners who are more experienced than him— and have triumphed on this trail before?( Versteeg won the inaugural edition of the race in 2021; McKnight took first place in 2023 and Subertas is the defending champion.)
“ That’ s an interesting question. I think if it was a 100 km or 100 mile distance, I’ d be a lot more confident. With it being 250 miles, they all have more experience than me. But that really gets me excited and motivates
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