Getting In · Coveted ultra
Western States 100
It started in 1974 when a man whose horse went lame decided to walk the Western States Trail anyway. Fifty years later, 11,335 people put their names in a hat for 369 places, and the wait to run it has become a decade-long project for most of them.
- Distance
- 100.2 mi
- Climb / descent
- 18,000 ft up22,000 ft down
- Field
- 369Capped by Forest Service permit
- 2026 lottery
- 11,335 entrants93,140 tickets in the hat
- Cutoff
- 30 hours
- Draw
- First Saturday in December
Western States runs from Olympic Valley over the Sierra Nevada, down through the canyons of the American River, across the river itself, and into Auburn. It is the oldest 100 mile trail race in the world and the sport's reference point: the qualifying structures, the crew and pacer conventions, the silver buckle for sub-24, all of it started here or was standardised here.
The course is a specific kind of hard. The escarpment climb in the first four miles takes you to 8,700 feet. The canyons between Robinson Flat and Foresthill are brutally hot, routinely well over 100°F on the exposed sections, and they are where the race is decided. Then there's a river crossing at mile 78 and a final stretch to the Placer High School track, where every finisher gets a lap in front of the crowd.
How to get in
- Time qualifierFinish a qualifier, every single year
You must finish a race from the official qualifier list within its time standard, inside the qualifying window, to be eligible for that year's lottery. Completing one earns you a ticket. That's the entire prize: a ticket.
- LotteryThe doubling lottery
The draw is the first Saturday in December, with registration in November. Tickets double for every consecutive year you qualify and are not selected: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Miss a single year of qualifying and you reset to one ticket. That reset rule is the whole game.
- Time qualifierGolden Tickets
Finish at the sharp end of a designated Golden Ticket race and you're in automatically. For 2027 the series runs six races including Javelina Jundred, Black Canyon 100K, Tarawera, Chianti, and The Canyons 100K, with two or three automatic spots per gender at each. Realistically this is the elite lane.
- Volunteer / serviceAutomatic and special entries
Top-10 finishers return the following year. There are limited entries tied to sponsors, board service, and long-running volunteer commitments, plus a small number of trail-work related considerations. None of these is a plan; all of them are reasons to be part of the community.
The ten-year plan, written down
| Year | Tickets | What you're doing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | First qualifier. Probably your first 100K. Enter the lottery, expect nothing. |
| 2 | 2 | Qualify again. Crew or pace at Western States to learn the course. |
| 3 | 4 | Qualify again. Start heat training seriously in the spring. |
| 4 | 8 | Odds are now meaningful. Have a crew lined up in case. |
| 5 | 16 | Most people are getting drawn in this window. |
| 6-7 | 32-64 | Statistically you should be in by now. |
The single most important line in this table is the one that isn't there: the year you skip a qualifier. That resets you to one ticket and erases everything above.
The canyons will decide your race
Everyone talks about the escarpment. The race is actually decided between Robinson Flat (mile 30) and Foresthill (mile 62), in the canyons, in the afternoon.
- Heat train for real. Sauna protocols, overdressed runs, or both, starting at least three weeks out. This is the highest-return preparation available.
- Cool aggressively. Ice in the bandana, ice in the sports bra, dunk in every creek. Runners who ration ice have bad canyons.
- Go out slower than the escarpment invites. The high country is beautiful and cool and it seduces people into a pace that gets paid for at 3 p.m.
- Plan for the river. Rucky Chucky at mile 78, either the cable crossing or the boats depending on flow. Dry socks on the far side change the last 22 miles.
Choosing a qualifier that's useful
The qualifier list changes yearly, so check the current one. Beyond eligibility, choose one that trains you for something:
- A hot-weather 100K teaches you what heat does to your stomach.
- A long-descent course prepares your quads for 22,000 feet of down.
- An early-season race gets the ticket banked so a summer injury doesn't cost you the year.
That last point is underrated. Qualify in the autumn or winter if you can, not the following spring, so one bad month doesn't reset your ticket count.
Questions runners actually ask
What are the real Western States lottery odds?
The 2026 lottery had 11,335 entrants and 93,140 total tickets for a field of 369 runners. A one-ticket applicant is around one percent. Because tickets double each consecutive year you qualify and miss, most persistent applicants are drawn in years four through seven.
What happens if I skip a year of qualifying?
You reset to one ticket. This is the single most costly mistake in the whole system, and it is why runners plan their qualifier early in the window rather than leaving it to the spring.
When is the lottery?
Registration runs through November, typically closing around November 21, with the draw on the first Saturday in December.
Can I get in without the lottery?
Realistically only through a Golden Ticket, which means finishing in the top two or three at one of six designated races. There are also automatic entries for the previous year's top-10 finishers and a small number of special entries.
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.