Congratulations to all the runners who were chosen for the 2022 Hardrock 100! Well known in the ultramarathon world as one of the most difficult 100-mile events, Hardrock also has one of the most difficult lotteries to enter the run — in part because the qualifying races themselves are all notoriously challenging, and in part because there is usually only one way to gain automatic entry: you have to have won the previous year’s Hardrock 100 men’s or women’s event.
A view from the top of Engineer Pass on the Hardrock 100 course. Photo: @garrettcreamer
2022 Hardrock 100 Lottery Parameters
Due to COVID-19, there is a unique policy for automatic entrants for 2022. International runners who were chosen for the previous year’s event but were unable to travel in 2021 will gain an automatic entry. Eighteen international runners — 16 men and two women — were part of this auto-entry caveat.
Historically, several runners are chosen ahead of time by the Run Director, Dale Garland, and announced among the names chosen in the lottery. The run organization indicated Garland chose six runners for 2022.
The 2022 event will start 145 runners, and after subtracting the 18 international rollovers, the two returning champions, and Dale Garland’s six picks, that leaves a total of 119 runners chosen at this year’s lottery.
The lottery for 2022 had 1,916 applicants. Your likelihood of getting into Hardrock depends on your number of tickets. The Hardrock 100 website’s lottery page explains the details and nuances here.
As usual, the applicant pool is divided into the following three categories for the lottery and we list the number of runners chosen from each category for 2022:
- Never Lottery: People who have never finished a Hardrock. This includes runners who have started the run, but dropped out (after which, they retain all their tickets). This year, 49 spots were allocated to Nevers after accounting for extraneous entrants, as explained above.
- Else Lottery: This includes people who’ve finished the run, at least once but less than five times. For 2022, 46 slots were awarded to the Else category.
- Veteran Lottery: Those who have finished a Hardrock five or more times. (However, if a veteran DNFs twice in a row, they are moved to the Else Lottery and have to finish another time before being placed back in the Veteran Lottery.) This year 24 slots were awarded to Veterans.
The lottery also carried out the Hardrock 100’s new Gender Equity Policy for the 2022 event, a policy voted on by the event’s board in 2021 that requires the percent of women on the start line to be at least the percent of women who applied for the lottery. For the 2022 lottery, 18% of the applicants were women, so 18% would be 26 women. There were 27 women selected in the lottery for 2022.
In addition to entrants drawn in the lottery, waitlist names were also drawn into six separate division- and gender-specific waitlists.
Even though this event is called a run and not a race, the front end is, in reality, competitive in nature while still seeming to maintain the cooperative family spirit which Hardrock prides itself upon. In the rest of this article, we document the men and women who were selected in the lottery today who we think will be the main contenders. We also mention who is on a waitlist with a reasonable chance to get in.
Notable 2022 Hardrock 100 Women’s Entrants
As stated before, the only usual way to gain automatic entry to Hardrock is by winning: two-time winner Sabrina Stanley will be back to defend her title. Below are the notable women who were chosen in the 2022 lottery as well as the defending champ:
- Stephanie Case — 1st 2021 Tor des Glaciers 450k; 3rd 2021 Val d’Aran; 4th 2018 Tor des Géants
- Courtney Dauwalter — 1st 2021 & 2019 UTMB; 1st 2020 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra with 283 miles
- Maggie Guterl — 1st 2021 Cocodona 250 Mile; 1st 2019 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra with 250 miles
- Emily Halnon — 1st 2021 Siskiyou Out Back 50 Mile; 11th 2019 Cascade Crest 100 Mile
- Meghan Hicks — 3-time Hardrock 100 finisher most recently 3rd in 2021 Hardrock 100; 2-time Nolan’s 14 finisher
- Amanda Morgenstern — 4th 2020 Never Summer 100k; 4th 2019 High Lonesome 100 Mile; 3rd 2019 Jemez Mountain 50 Mile
- Darcy Piceu — 8-time Hardrock 100 finisher with 3 wins & most recently 2nd in 2021
- Angela Shartel — 8th 2020 IMTUF 100 Mile; 1st 2018 Mogollon Monster 100 Mile
- Sabrina Stanley — 1st 2021 & 2018 Hardrock 100; 4th 2021 Madeira Island Ultra-Trail
Full entrants list and waitlists.
Sabrina Stanley sprinting in to win the 2021 Hardrock 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Notable 2022 Hardrock 100 Men’s Entrants
As stated before, the only usual way to gain automatic entry to Hardrock is by winning: last year’s winner and course record holder François D’Haene will be back to defend his title. Below are the notable men who were chosen in the 2022 lottery as well as the defending champ:
- Jeff Browning — 6-time Hardrock 100 finisher with a win in 2018 & 5th place in 2021
- Nick Coury — 4th 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile; 3rd 2021 Black Canyon 100k; 5-time Hardrock 100 finisher with a most recent 5th in 2017
- François D’Haene — 1st & a new course record at the 2021 Hardrock 100; 1st 2021 UTMB
Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz — 2nd 2021 UTMB; 1st 2021 Transgrancanaria[Editor’s Note: Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz has decided not to race as he’s expecting a child in July of 2022.]- John Fitzgerald — 3rd 2019 The Bear 100 Mile; 1st 2019 HURL Elkhorn 53 Mile
- Dakota Jones — 2nd 2020 IMTUF 100 Mile; 7th 2019 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile; 2-time Hardrock 100 finisher most recently 3rd in 2012
- Kilian Jornet — 4-time Hardrock 100 finisher & 4-time champion
- Daniel Jung — 1st 2021 Diagonale des Fous; 3rd 2019 Ultra SkyMarathon Madeira; 4th 2018 Transgrancanaria
- John Kelly — 1st 2020 Spine Winter Race; 2017 Barkley Marathons finisher
- Luke Nelson — 1st 2021 Plain 100 Mile; 8th 2018 Tor des Géants; Nolan’s 14 finisher
- Mike Wolfe — 3rd 2021 River of No Return 108k; 2nd 2019 High Lonesome 100 Mile; 3rd 2018 Scout Mountain 100 Mile
Full entrants list and waitlists.
François D’Haene on his way to winning the 2021 Hardrock 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Notable Waitlisted Women with at Least a Remote Chance of Getting In
- Darla Askew — 6-time Hardrock 100 finisher most recently 3rd in 2018 (2nd on women’s Veteran list)
- Becky Bates — 5th 2017 Hardrock 100; 2nd 2018 HURT 100 Mile (3rd on women’s Else List)
- Christina Bauer — 3rd 2019 High Lonesome 100 Mile; 5th 2018 Grand Traverse Mountain Run (9th on women’s Never list)
- Hannah Green — 7th 2017 Hardrock 100; 1st 2017 The Bear 100 Mile (2nd on women’s Else list)
- Olga Nevtrinos — 4th 2021 Hardrock 100 (7th on women’s Else List)
- Kaori Niwa — 4th 2018 Hardrock 100; 13th 2021 UTMB; 2nd 2021 Val d’Aran (8th on women’s Else List)
Full entrants list and waitlists.
[Editor’s Note: We’re only listing runners from the top 10 of the Else, Never, and Veteran women’s waitlists. We’ll add additional runners should there be highly abnormal movement on any of the waitlists.]
Notable Waitlisted Men with at Least a Remote Chance of Getting In
- Jamil Coury — 9th 2017 Hardrock 100; 5th 2018 Tahoe 200 Mile (6th on men’s Veteran list)
- Jeason Murphy — 6th 2018 Hardrock 100; 9th 2021 San Juan Solstice 50 Mile; 1st 2019 & 2020 Arches Ultra 50 Mile (8th on men’s Else list)
- Jason Poole — 13th 2018 Hardrock 100 8th 2017 Jemez Mountain 50 Mile; 4th 2017 Cruel Jewel 100 Mile (9th on men’s Veteran list)
Full entrants list and waitlists.
[Editor’s Note: We’re only listing runners from the top 10 of the Else, Never, and Veteran men’s waitlists. We’ll add additional runners should there be highly abnormal movement on any of the waitlists.]
Call for Comments
- Are you a Hardrock Veteran, Never, or Else entrant? How long have you been waiting to get in?
- Do you think there will be any breakout stars in next year’s event?
Runners during the 2018 Hardrock 100. Photo: iRunFar
