Congratulations to all of you chosen for the 2019 Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run! This article breaks down the results of yesterday’s lottery for the run’s 2019 edition.
Let’s start with some statistics and background information. This year’s lottery entrants list was up to 2,488 applicants. For perspective, the 2018 lottery had 2,236 entrants, the 2017 lottery 1,966 entrants, and the 2016 lottery 1,549 applicants.
These 2,488 entrants were represented by 18,071 total tickets, which went into today’s lottery buckets. For perspective, last year’s total ticket pool was 12,357 tickets.
Prior to the lottery, the run administration placed all of the lottery applicants into one of three divisions based upon their previous experience (or not) with Hardrock and separate lotteries took place within each of the divisions. The divisions are Veterans, runners who’ve finished Hardrock five or more times; Nevers, who are runners who’ve never finished Hardrock; and Everyone Else (or, more simply, “Else” below), runners who’ve started the event and finished between one and four times.
For the 2019 lottery, there were 37 Veteran applicants who had 362 tickets, 2,222 Never applicants with 16,818 tickets, and 229 Else applicants with 891 tickets. Looking back at last year’s lottery, there were 43 Veteran applicants who had 422 tickets, 1,975 Never applicants with 11,127 tickets, and 218 Else applicants with 808 tickets. (Note that a runner’s ticket in the Never pool are subject exponential increase, not the simple increase by addition as in the other two pools.)
The 2019 event will start 145 runners. Today, the event organization selected 33 Veterans, 45 Nevers, and 67 Elses. Of the 145 entrants chosen, up to five were chosen ahead of time by the race by Run Director Dale Garland, which were announced among the names chosen in the lottery.
In addition to entrants drawn in the lottery, waitlist names were also drawn into three separate division-specific waitlists. For perspective, in 2018, 3 people got off the Veteran waitlist and into the race, 6 people from the Never waitlist, and 24 people from the Else waitlist. For the 2017 edition, the waitlists eventually yielded entrant spots 10 deep in the Veteran division, 9 deep in the Never division, and 6 deep in the Else division. For the 2016 edition, the waitlist went to 4 deep for the Veterans (which included all of the Veterans on the waitlist that year), 4 deep for Never, and 8 deep for Else.
Even though this event is called a run and not a race, the front end is, in reality, competitive nature while still seeming to maintain the cooperative family spirit which Hardrock prides itself upon. Below we document the men and women who were selected in the lottery today who we think will be the main 2019 contenders. We also mention who is on a waitlist and might get in and who is on a waitlist so far down they probably won’t get in.
Let’s start with the men’s race, which is by far the most competitively loaded field in Hardrock history. Xavier Thévenard was pulled in the lottery again this year after a dramatic lead and equally dramatic disqualification at mile 90 during last year’s Hardrock for taking aid outside of the station. He’ll be challenged by four-time winner and the holder of both course records Kilian Jornet, 2016’s co-champion Jason Schlarb, and 2018’s champion Jeff Browning. Throw in 3-time UTMB champion François D’Haene and 2-time Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji champion Dylan Bowman, both of whom will be making their Hardrock debut. Should the race-day conditions be even remotely favorable, it would seem like counterclockwise course record of 23:28:10 set by Kilian in 2015 will be in play.
The 2018 women’s champion Sabrina Stanley has elected to use her auto-entry to return this year, and her competition with likely come from from Swiss runner Andrea Huser who seems to either win or podium at every highly competitive European race she starts, as well as 2018 Western States champion Courtney Dauwalter who excels in brutally difficult races. Throw in three-time Hardrock champion Darcy Piceu, who is on a roll with 100 mile victories and has, by far, the most experience at this race with seven finishes no worse than runner-up.
Notable Men’s 2019 Hardrock 100 Entrants
There is only one way to gain an auto-entry into Hardrock, and that is by winning last year’s addition. Jeff Browning will be returning to defend his title in 2019.
Below are the notable men who gained entrance via today’s lottery.
- Dylan Bowman – 1st 2016 & 2018 Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji; 7th 2017 UTMB
- Jeff Browning – 1st 2018 Hardrock; 4th 2016 Hardrock; 5th 2018 Western States 100
- Jamil Coury – 9th 2017 Hardrock; 4th 2018 Tahoe 200
- Francois D’Haene – 1st 2012, 2014 & 2017 UTMB; 1st 2013, 2014, 2016 & 2018 Diagonale des Fous; 2nd 2018 Western States 100
- Trevor Fuchs – 1st 2016, 2017 Wasatch 100 [Added 12/3]
- Grant Guise – 10th 2016, 13th 2017 Hardrock; 8th 2017 Ultra-Trail Australia
- Michael Hewitt – 8th 2018 Hardrock; 3rd 2017 Leadville 100 Mile
- Kilian Jornet – 4-time Hardrock champion and course record holder, both directions
- Ryan Kaiser – 5th 2016 Hardrock; 2nd 2018 Leadville 100 Mile
- Jeason Murphy – 6th 2018 Hardrock 100; 17th 2017 Hardrock
- Jason Poole – 13th 2018, 8th 2013, 9th 2012 Hardrock
- Chris Price – 1st 2017 & 2018 Ouray 100 Mile; 4th 2013 & 2015 Hardrock; 1st 2018 San Juan Solstice 50 Mile
- Jason Schlarb – T-1st 2016 Hardrock; 1st 2013, 2015 & 2018 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Ryan Smith – 1st 2018 High Lonesome 100 Mile; 9th 2015 UTMB
- Xavier Thévenard – 3rd 2016 Hardrock 100; 1st 2013, 2015, 2018 UTMB
Notable Women’s 2019 Hardrock 100 Entrants
Here are the notable women who gained entrance via today’s lottery.
- Darla Askew – 3rd 2018, 6th 2017, 4th 2016 & 3rd 2015 Hardrock
- Courtney Dauwalter – 1st 2018 Western States 100; 1st 2018 Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji 100 Mile; 1st 2017 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Andrea Huser – 2nd 2016 UTMB; 1st 2016 & 2017 Diagonale des Fous
- Alyson Kirk – 1st 2018 Lone Star, Hellbender & Cloudsplitter 100 Milers; 7th 2015 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Betsy Kalmeyer – 5-time champ; 2nd 2014 Hardrock
- Darcy Piceu – 3-time Hardrock champion; 2nd 2017 Hardrock
- Sabrina Stanley – 1st 2018 Hardrock; 3rd 2017 Western States 100; 5th Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
Notable Waitlisted Men with at Least a Remote Chance of Getting In
- Ryan Burch – 17th on Else Waitlist
- Troy Howard – 14th on Else Waitlist
(This year, we’re only listing runners on the top 25 of the Else waitlist and top 10 of the Never and Veteran waitlists. We’ll add additional runners should there be highly abnormal movement on any of the waitlists. The original full Else waitlist and original Never and Veteran waitlists are available.)
Notable Waitlisted Women with at Least a Remote Chance of Getting In
- Tia Gabalita – 9th on the Never waitlist
- Katie Grossman – 22nd on Else waitlist
- Sarah McCloskey – 25th on Else waitlist
(This year, we’re only listing runners on the top 25 of the Else waitlist and top 10 of the Never and Veteran waitlists. We’ll add additional runners should there be highly abnormal movement on any of the waitlists. The original full Else waitlist and original Never and Veteran waitlists are available.)
Call For Comments
- Who are you most excited about running the 2019 Hardrock 100?
- Who are your picks as favorites? Did we miss anyone who should be on these lists?
- If you’re in, how excited are you to be racing Hardrock next year?
