The lottery for the 2019 Western States 100 took place yesterday, 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.
This year’s lottery saw a 19% increase in applicants over last year. The starters list in June 2019 will ultimately contain 369 runners, a number decided by the race’s permit through the Granite Chief Wilderness Area. Among this there will be 102 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 262 runners who were chosen in yesterday’s lottery.
A change was announced to the WS 100 entrance process in 2016, and will be implemented for the third time in the 2019 event, a 50-person General Waitlist. If a registered entrant decides not to race, members of the waitlist will move onto the entrants list. Yesterday, that waitlist was also filled from among the lottery entrants as well. For perspective, in last year’s use of the waitlist, it went 36 deep in offering waitlist members spots in the race.
The WS 100 website has an up-to-date list of the 2019 Western States 100 entrants and will have a separate list 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 2019 as automatic entries, and all 10 women have chosen to do so:
- Courtney Dauwalter (Author’s Note: She was also chosen for the 2019 Hardrock 100)
- Kaytlyn Gerbin
- Lucy Bartholomew
- Amanda Basham
- Cecilia Flori
- Stephanie Violett
- Camelia Mayfield
- Aliza Lapierre
- Corrine Malcolm
- Kate Elliott
Men’s Top-10 Returnees
The men’s top 10 from 2018 are also invited to return with auto-entries, and all but one intend to do so:
- Jim Walmsley
- François D’Haene (Author’s Note: D’Haene will not return to WS. He was selected in the Never lottery for Hardrock)
- Mark Hammond
- Ian Sharman
- Jeff Browning (Editor’s Note: Browning is also entered in the Hardrock 100, but he’s run this double multiple times.)
- Kyle Pietari
- Cody Reed
- Charlie Ware
- Paul Giblin
- Kris Brown
Other Fast Runners Who Received Automatic Entry
According to UltraSignup, 81 of the 102 auto-entry slots were filled ahead of the race, with 19 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:
Women
- Nicole Bitter (UTWT spot)
- Moriah Buckley (Race Administration spot)
- Francesca Canepa (UTWT spot)
- Clare Gallagher (UTWT spot)
- Camille Herron (UTWT spot)
- Marie McNaughton (UTWT spot)
- Beth Pascall (UTWT spot)
Men
- Gerad Dean (Race Administration spot)
- Tom Evans (UTWT spot)
- Jordi Gamito (UTWT spot)
- Gediminas Grinius (UTWT spot)
- David Laney (UTWT spot)
- Michael McKnight (Sponsor spot)
- Patrick Reagan (UTWT spot)
- Ryan Sandes (Sponsor spot)
- Jason Schlarb (Sponsor spot) (Editor’s Note: Schlarb is also entered in the Hardrock 100.)
Top Lottery Entrants
A total of 262 names were drawn during yesterday’s lottery, and among them were a small number of speedy and notable athletes.
Men
- Johnny Clemons
- Yassine Diboun
- Michael Heimes
- Steven Moore
- Chuck Radford
- Jason Tischer
Women
- Rachel Bucklin
- Grace Fisher
- Rachel Kelley
- Alissa St Laurent
- Annabelle Stearns
Top runners still have two routes by which they can gain automatic entry into the 2019 WS 100.
Golden Ticket Races
The five-race 2019 Altra Golden Ticket Races will offer up to 20 WS 100 entries to be given to top finishers of these races. 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 2019:
- January 5 – Bandera 100k (Texas)
- February 16 – Black Canyon 100k (Arizona)
- March 30 – Georgia Death Race (74 miles) (Georgia)
- April 13 – Lake Sonoma 50 Mile (California)
- April 27 – The Canyons 100k (California) (replaces canceled Sean O’Brien 100k)
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 2019?
- Anyone you’re hoping will try to gain entry via a Golden Ticket Race? If you’re a speedster and are trying to get in via either route, let us know!
