Getting In · Coveted ultra
Badwater 135
It starts at the lowest point in North America in the hottest month of the year and finishes 8,360 feet up the side of Mount Whitney. There is no lottery. A committee looks at your record and decides whether you belong there.
- Distance
- 135 miRoad, non-stop
- Start
- Badwater Basin, -282 ft
- Finish
- Whitney Portal, 8,360 ft
- Climbing
- ~14,600 ft
- Temperature
- Up to ~130°F
- Field
- ~100 invited
Badwater is a road race, which makes it strange company on this list, and it's the most environmentally hostile event in mainstream ultrarunning. Air temperatures reach 120°F and more, road surface temperatures go far higher, and runners have historically melted shoe soles. Every runner has a crew vehicle and a support team who leapfrog them for 135 miles over three mountain ranges.
Because the danger is real, the entry is curated rather than drawn. The race wants people who understand what they're getting into, and it says so explicitly.
How to get in
- ApplicationThe application
A juried application with an application window each winter. Minimum requirements have included multiple 100 mile finishes, and the committee weighs your full résumé: what you've finished, where, in what conditions, and how recently.
- Time qualifierBadwater family races
Finishes at races in the AdventureCORPS family, notably Badwater Salton Sea and Badwater Cape Fear, strengthen an application enormously. They also prove you can handle the specific demands of heat and road.
- Volunteer / serviceCrew for someone first
The most direct advice the race itself gives. Crewing a Badwater runner teaches you the course, the logistics, and the physiology, and it demonstrates you're a known quantity. A large share of the field crewed before they ran.
How people actually survive the heat
- Heat acclimation for weeks, not days. Sauna sessions, hot-room treadmill work, and running in the worst part of your local day. This is the difference between finishing and being pulled.
- Crew is the equipment. Ice, spray bottles, ice bandanas, cold towels, and sleeve refreshes every mile or two through the hottest sections.
- White everything. Full coverage, light-coloured clothing. Exposed skin gains heat rather than losing it in that environment.
- Sodium management is life-or-death. Hyponatremia and heat illness both kill people in Death Valley. Learn your sweat rate ahead of time.
- The climbs matter. Three mountain passes and a 13-mile finishing climb " to Whitney Portal, at altitude, on legs that have done 122 miles.
Questions runners actually ask
Is Badwater a lottery?
No. It is a juried application. A committee reviews your ultra résumé and invites roughly 100 runners each year.
What does a competitive application look like?
Multiple 100 mile finishes, evidence you can race in heat, finishes at Badwater-family events such as Salton Sea or Cape Fear, and ideally experience crewing at Badwater itself.
How hot does it actually get?
Air temperatures reach around 120°F to 130°F in July, with far higher road surface temperatures. Runners have historically had shoe soles degrade on the asphalt.
Go to the source
Entry rules, dates, standards, fees, and odds change every single year, and the interesting races change them the most. Use this guide to build the plan; use the official site to confirm the details before you book anything.
If this is your kind of thing
Need the races in between? The hard part of a bucket list year is everything else on the calendar: the qualifier, the tune-up, the long run with a bib on.