Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Ultra Race Lotteries for 2014 - Adventure Awaits! Western States Lottery Going Now...


It's lottery season again in the world of ultrarunning! Time to put your name in the hat for your favorite races and see how the Lottery Gods determine your fate! The Western States 100m lottery is on right now (already nearing 2,200 entries), and given the changes for 2015, it will be the last year you can qualify with a 50-miler. So don't hesitate - put your name in!

Below are a few links to popular races that have lotteries (and a few that don't...yet):

Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, June 28, 2014 (Lottery Nov 9-16, Drawing Dec 7)

Way Too Cool 50k, March 8, 2014 (Lottery Dec 2-8, Drawing Dec 10)

Lake Sonoma 50m, April 12, 2014 (No lottery - reg opens Dec 15)

Miwok 100k, May 3, 2014 (Lottery Dec 1-10, Drawing Dec 12)

Massanutten 100, May 17, 2014 (Lottery Jan 1-8, Drawing Jan 10)

Mt. Washington Road Race, June 15, 2014 (Lottery Feb 14-March 14, Drawing March 15)

Hardrock 100, July 11, 2014 (Lottery Now-Dec 1, Drawing Dec 7)

Tahoe Rim Trail 100m, July 19, 2014 (Lottery Dec 7-21, Drawing Dec 22)

Badwater 135, July ~15, 2014 (Lottery/app Jan 20-Feb 1, Selection Feb ~15)

Vermont 100, July ~20, 2014 (No lottery - reg opens around Jan 1)

Leadville 100, Aug 16, 2014 (No lottery - reg opens Jan 1)

Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, Aug 30, 2014 (Registration Dec 19-Jan 5, Lottery selection Jan 15 if needed)

Wasatch 100, September 5, 2014 (Lottery Dec 1-Jan 6, Drawing Feb'ish)

Ironman Hawaii World Championship, Oct 11, 2014 (Lottery Now-Feb 28, Drawing April 15)

8 comments:

  1. Great list! Thanks for pulling together all this info. Regarding the Vermont 100, the race organizers recently announced on their Facebook page that registration was being changed to sometime after January 1. No update on their website yet about an exact date.

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  2. Super helpful list (with links), Scott! In the case of the lotteries...good luck, mate!

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  3. Michael Jimenez11/13/2013 12:15:00 PM

    Entered WS lottery last night and was torn over the decision only because of the price. I fully understand and don't have any negative feelings towards the race over this at all but it's my one hesitation. To me it's a non issue and not what I'm posting about.

    If selected it will be a stretch for my budget at this time in my work season and with three children (Christmas is quickly approaching), I have to pinch the pennies a bit. So this would be a personal con for me in the pro/con list. For me it's a factor but just so much as taking my family out for a nice diner...I look at it like a wonderful restaurant has an opening and I have to decide how badly do I want to eat there...Answer, quite a bit!

    I'm posting because I wonder if anyone like myself feels that your name needs to go in the hat: 1) because you really want to run WS and 2) If you don't get selected you increase your chances for the next go around?

    I honestly was about 50/50 on this but feel if you have the opportunity you need to look into this, not just for this year but for following years. This isn't a complaint just an observation that having lottery decisions for me are as much about this year's race as those down the line. I wonder if anyone else feels the internal pressure to enter a lottery as much for today as for future drawings?

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    Replies
    1. Yes to both your questions. I think many have entered WS when they weren't "ready" (or didn't have the money) knowing that they wont get in for several years. I did my first 50 in under 11 hours back in 2007 but didn't enter the lottery because I wasn't ready for a 100 back then. Now I realize that I could have entered in 07 and still had 5 more years ( on average?) to build strength and experience at longer than 50 mile distances. If a runner wanted to get in for 2013, he/she needed to start signing up years ago.

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  4. M. Jimenez - i too,feel a bit of the pressure. although, i have a qualifier for 2014, i had not planned to enter primarily because i have friends (who have far more experience w/ this distance, who have been waiting sooo long to be picked.) But after the announcement of changes w/ qualifiers (reduced to a sparse # of qualifiers in Calif. Miwok the only 100k) i'm now considering entering the Lottery, even though i ideally would have waited a few more years before considering throwing my name in the hat. It will be interesting when Dec 7th roll around :)
    - Patty S.

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  5. Keep in mind that not many will get into Miwok through the lottery. Everyone who was in the 2013 truncated race and at least picked up their number gets in automatically (but we still need to sign up for 2014).

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