The lottery for the 2018 Western States 100 took place today, confirming the vast majority of next year’s field, including a few top runners. However, most top runners either secured entry prior to the lottery or will do so in the coming months.
A total of 4,909 runners entered the lottery for the 2018 race. This is up from 4,248 runners entered in the lottery for the 2017 edition, 3,510 applicants for the 2016 race, and 2,566 for the 2015 edition. A total of 15,074 tickets went into the drawing for next year. This is also up significantly from 11,021 tickets in the 2017 lottery.
The starters list in June 2018 will ultimately contain 369 runners, a number decided by the race’s permit through the Granite Chief Wilderness. Among this there will be 105 automatic entrants (some decided and some yet to be decided, see below for details), three that were drawn from those who were in the live audience for the lottery itself, and 261 runners who were chosen in today’s lottery.
A change was announced to the WS 100 entrance process in 2016, and will be implemented for the second time in the 2018 event, a 50-person General Waitlist. If a registered entrant decides not to race, members of the waitlist will move onto the entrants list. Today, that waitlist was also filled from among the lottery entrants as well. For perspective, in last year’s use of the waitlist, it went 39 deep in offering waitlist members spots in the race.
The WS 100 website has an up-to-date list of the 2018 Western States 100 entrants and should soon have one for waitlisted runners.
Let’s take a look at the top runners who have made it into WS 100 so far.
Women’s Top-10 Returnees
The women’s top 10 from this year are invited to return in 2018 as automatic entries, and it appears that eight of the 10 women have chosen to do so:
- Cat Bradley — 19:31:30 (finish-line and post-race interviews)
Magdalena Boulet — 19:49:15 (pre-race and post-race interviews)Sabrina Stanley — 20:11:41 (post-race interview)[Editor’s Note: She was also chosen fifth on the Never waitlist of the 2018 Hardrock 100 today. Update 5/27: She’s now first on the Hardrock Never waitlist. Update 6/4: Sabrina Stanley has withdrawn from this year’s Western States.]- Kaytlyn Gerbin — 20:46:55
- Fiona Hayvice — 20:51:27
- Nicole Kalogeropoulus –21:00:52
Jackie Merritt — 21:07:23 (post-race interview)[Update 6/4: Jackie Merritt has withdrawn from Western States.]Ildikó Wermescher — 21:50:32- Meghan Laws — 21:57:09
Andrea Huser — 22:31:45 [Editor’s Note:She also got into the 2018 Hardrock 100 today.Update 5/27: Andrea Huser is injured and won’t be running Western States.]
Men’s Top-10 Returnees
The men’s top 10 from 2017 are also invited to return with auto-entries, and it seems that seven of them intend to do so:
Ryan Sandes — 16:19:37 (finish-line and post-race interviews)Alex Nichols — 16:48:23 (pre-race and post-race interviews)- Mark Hammond — 16:52:57 (post-race interview)
- Jeff Browning — 17:32:06 (pre-race interview)
Chris DeNucci — 17:36:11[Update 6/4: Chris DeNucci has withdrawn from Western States.]Avery Collins — 17:37:11- Ian Sharman — 17:42:06
- Jesse Haynes — 1744:23 [Editor’s Note: He also got into the 2018 Hardrock 100 today.]
- Paul Giblin — 17:59:06
- Kyle Pietari — 18:11:44 (post-race interview)
Other Fast Runners Who Received Automatic Entry
According to UltraSignup, 74 of the 101 auto-entry slots were filled ahead of the race, with 15 of those being top-10 returnees from last year. Below are some speedy women and men who have already achieved entry to next year’s race via one of the other pre-lottery auto-entry methods so far. Here they are and how they obtained their entry:
Women
- Lucy Bartholomew — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 15, 2017]
- Amanda Basham — Sponsor
- Diana Fitzpatrick — WSER Trustee
- Cecilia Flori — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 15, 2017]
- Mandie Holmes — Race Administration
- Emelie Lecomte — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 15, 2017]
- Kaci Lickteig — Ultra-Trail World Tour
- Pam Smith — Sponsor
- Stephanie Violett — Ultra-Trail World Tour
Men
- Erik Clavery — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 18, 2017]
- François D’haene — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 18, 2017]
- Lon Freeman — Raffle
- Didrik Hermansen — Ultra-Trail World Tour [Added Dec 18, 2017]
- Karl Meltzer — Sponsor
Patrick Reagan — Ultra-Trail World Tour[Removed May 27, 2018]- Paul Terranova — Sponsor
Joe Uhan — Sponsor[Removed May 27, 2018]- Jim Walmsley — Ultra-Trail World Tour
Top Lottery Entrants
A total of 261 names were drawn during today’s lottery, and among them were a small number of speedy and notable athletes.
Men
- Kris Brown — 4th TNF EC 50 Mile Championships 2017; 1st San Diego 100 Mile 2017
- Johnny Clemons — 1st Cruel Jewel 100 Mile 2017; 3rd Pinhoti 100 Mile 2017
- Joe Czbaranek — 1st Beast of Burden (Winter) 100 Mile 2013 (14:47); 27th Western States 2013; 22nd TNF EC 50 Mile 2013
- John Fitzgerald — 5th Black Canyon 100k 2017; 4th Quad Rock 50 Mile 2016
- Brad Hinton — Yeti 100 Mile 2016 (14:42); 2nd Pine Creek 100 Mile 207
- Devon Olson — 4th Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile 2017; 1st Eastern States 100 Mile 2016; 23rd Western States 2015
- Michael Owen — 2nd JFK 50 Mile 2017; 3rd Cayuga Trails 50 Mile 2017; 1st Mohican 100 Mile 2016
- Kenneth Ringled — 18th Lake Sonoma 50 Mile 2017; 2nd Bryce 100 Mile 2016
- Johan Steene — 2nd 2017 IAU 24-Hour World Championships (266.5 km/165.6 miles) [Added 12/3]
- Coree Woltering — 4th American River 50 Mile; 1st Tunnel Hill 50 Mile 2016 (5:30:15) & 2017
Women
- Traci Falbo — 16th IAU 100k World Championships (road) 2016; 1st Tunnel Hill 100 Mile 2014 (14:45)
- Rachel Kelley — 12th JFK 50 Mile 2017; 5th Pinhoti 100 Mile 2015
- Corrine Malcolm — 1st Cayuga Trails 50 Mile 2016; 4th Leadville 100 Mile 2017; 7th Way Too Cool 50k 2018; 1st Canyons 100k 2018 [Added May 27]
- Annie Rutledge — 1st Tahoe Rim 100 Mile 2015; 2nd Wasatch 100 Mile 2016; 3rd Canyons 100k 2016 & 2017
- Roxanne Woodhouse — 1st Tahoe Rim 100 Mile 2016 & 2017; 1st Tahoe 200 Mile 2016
Top General Waitlist Entrants
Some folks will get into next year’s Western States off the order 50-person General Waitlist. Here are the speedsters on that list:
- Mari Mauland — 1st Thames Path 100 Mile, North Downs Way 100 Mile, Autumn 100 Mile all in 2017 [Update 6/7: Mari Mauland is off the waitlist and in the race.]
Methods of Later Automatic Entry
Top runners still have two routes by which they can gain automatic entry into the 2018 WS 100.
Golden Ticket Races
The five-race 2018 Altra Golden Ticket Races will offer up to 20 WS 100 entries to be given to top finishers of these races. This is a decrease from 24 entries from last year, and is because the series will have one less race in it. Due to a massive wildfire on and around its course last year, the Gorge Waterfalls 100k will not take place in 2018. The race administration announced earlier this year that the four spots that won’t be used from the series at Gorge Waterfalls would be given out by the Ultra-Trail World Tour to North American runners.
S0, basically, the top-two men and top-two women finishers of each race gain entry, and if they already have an entry or if they decline it, the entry can roll down as far as fifth place. Here’s the race-series schedule for 2018, [updated May 27] with each race’s four WS100 entrants:
- January 6 — Bandera 100k (Texas) — Camille Herron, Anna Hailey, Mario Mendoza, Cody Reed
- February 3 — Sean O’Brien 100k (California) — Courtney Dauwalter, Kate Elliot, Florian Neuschwander, Charlie Ware
- February 17 — Black Canyon 100k (Arizona) — Ailsa MacDonald, Paige Pattillo, Tim Freriks, Juan Moran
- March 31 — Georgia Death Race (74 miles) (Georgia) – Aliza Lapierre, Jasmine Chiaramonte,
Andrew Miller, Bob Shebest [Update 6/7: Andrew Miller has withdrawn from this year’s Western States due to injury.] - April 14 — Lake Sonoma 50 Mile (California) — Camelia Mayfield, Jared Hazen, Eric Senseman (four of the top five women declined their WS100 entry, hence only women’s entrant)
Ultra-Trail World Tour
For 2017, 10 slots are given to top international and North American contenders via the WS 100’s participation in the Ultra-Trail World Tour. We believe that four of these 10 slots have been announced with six more to be determined at a later date. All UTWT entrants are noted above in the Automatic Entry section.
Call for Comments
- Any contenders who are already in the race who we’ve not included above? Let us know who we missed!
- Who can you see winning the women’s and men’s races in 2018?
- Anyone you’re hoping will try to gain entry via the Ultra-Trail World Tour or Golden Ticket Races? If you’re a speedster and are trying to get in via either route, let us know!
Last updated June 4, 2018.
