Lottery Season

Lottery Season Is Upon Us

The Countdown(s) Begin…

The average American shopper is running around today for Black Friday, whether it being in stores or online, I am sitting here looking up data for the upcoming ultramarathon lotteries. Whether it is to see how many high the entry count has become, or just to confirm which dates I need to tune in for results, I find myself starring on my computer for a different reason than the typical Black Friday enthusiast out there.

I have been a passive ultra lottery participant to this point typically. I started my venture into the Western States (WSER) lottery a few years back – luckily – because I knew one day I would like to challenge the course. Other than this my lottery participation has been spare or somewhat random until the past 2 years where I am now starting to “target” which ultras I eventually want to do since it often requires sequential lottery entries in order to be successful.

 

Anyway, so where do I stack up for my 2023 season? Well let’s take a closer look:

RACE	Race Month	My Entry	Total Entries	Lottery Spots	% Chance	Result	Comment
HURT 100	Jan	2nd	99	26	26.3	NO	Year2= 3 kukui nuts in lottery
Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge	Jan	1st	unknown	10-30 invites	invite by RD choice	YES	Sent in my application/intentions back in Feb-2022. Got an email in Sep. to confirm entry!
The Barkley Fall Classic	Sep	3rd	unknown	~500	unknown	not yet	This process in an unknown procedure. I did not get drawn in the initial pull for 2023, but people regularly get in all the way up to race date itself.
Western States	Jun	4th	7,169	271	~7.8%	Dec-03	Year4= 8 tickets in lottery.
Hardrock	Jul	1st	1,727	55	~0.4%	Dec-03	Year 1= 1 ticket in "NEVER" lottery.
The Divide 200	Sep	1st	250	101	~40.4%	Dec-05	Inaugural year of race. Had to submit application for lottery which was accepted. Applicaitons open until Dec-04.
Angeles Crest 100	Jul	1st		230		Dec-19	I may enter if no WSER luck. Lottery opens Dec-05 to Dec- ??
Tahoe Rim Trail 100	Jul	1st		unknown		Jan-01	I may enter if no WSER luck. Lottery opens Dec-04 to Dec-18.
Leadville 100	Aug	2nd		unknown		Jan-09	Slim chance via open lottery, but will put in again.
Cascade Crest 100	Jul	1st		unknown		Jan-22	May decide to enter, t.b.d. Lottery opens Jan-01 to Jan-17.
Wasatch Front 100	Sep	1st		unknown		Jan-29	If no luck at Divide 200 lottery, I may enter this. Lottery opens Dec-01 to Jan-04.

One day I’d love to get in and run Western (WSER) and have come to realize this is a long process of persistence of simply accumulating and participating in the lottery for 5-7 years (if you happen to get in before that, consider yourself lucky). In fact I see it trending longer as the popularity of ultrarunning continues and the fact an individual can take a bye year now without losing their current ticket count. Looking at the numbers this year I still have a only a 7.7% chance and this is my 4^th year in the lottery process.

Secondly, I love mountains running and exploring the new areas that come along with mountain ultras. I finally got myself an official Hardrock qualifier done this year (2022 High Lonesome 100 finisher), and so now I can start my endurance process of the HR100 lottery. Most likely this one as well will be closer to a decade long process, but at least the qualifiers are good for 2 seasons. You don’t have a chance unless you are in the lottery and so I began the process this lottery season.

One wild card is of course the infamous Barkley Fall Classic (BFC) as I did not get in on the initial drawing of participants. This leaves me somewhere on the unknown process of still being in the remaining lottery/waitlist. It has been known that people get into BFC all the way right up until race day, being pulled in late October does not matter much – except for the comfort in planning far ahead. This first year I ran it (2021) I didn’t get an invite until June. My second year (2022) I did get pulled initially in October and so I had an entire year of the race being planned on my calendar. So when do I get my invite from Laz for 2023…?...well that remains to be seen, but I am aware that it may come anytime until next September.

Couple of other lotteries that are on my bucket list but have no place in my 2023 plans or schedule would be the UTMB® (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) and TOR330 (Tor des Géants®). With my overseas travel to Hong Kong already booked in January there is no way to justify another big trip in 2023. I also need to collect some running stones to continue my entry process for UTMB. These bucket list destination races will remain on my to-do list for the future.

 

Results

The lottery season is exciting and full of anticipation as my season will begin to take shape starting essentially next weekend as December arrives and the results start to occur.

One big focus goal for the season has already been defined by an initial invite selection I got back in September. I was honored to be given an invite into Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC). This is a very small niche event that occurs around Chinese New Year every year in the Hong Kong region by linking together the 4 main hiking trails in the region. I am humbled in learning more and more about this challenge and everything it entails, logistically and physically. Due to the COVID travel restrictions this is the first time in three years international runners have been allowed to participate in the event again, which makes me even more humbled to have been selected from whatever pool of applications the RD received.

Besides my January plans (noted above), I am hoping to notch a race slot for either June or July (or both). Since Texas is stupid hot during that time period, I hope to escape somewhere a little more moderate where we could make a family trip out of it.

 

What lotteries have you put in for? What ultra events excite you? Tis the season to brush up the bucket list and hope you get a slot in one of the lotteries as this sport continues to grow in popularity.

 

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A Small Taste of Barkley

Get Off the Couch & Venture Out There

A “Quick” Tennessee trip | Ultramarathon #080

Since I am drive to 99% of my events, I try to follow my own unwritten rule:

BFC invitation 2021-06-05 off the waitlist.

Don’t run a race that takes less time than it does to drive to get there.

For example, I’ve driven to Arkansas, Colorado, and the far Western edge of Texas (Franklin Mountains) to run 100 Mi events before even though these are over 12 hours driving time or more from our current place in Texas. I justify it by the amount of time I will be doing the event itself. However back in the summer months I got myself a nice email that perked my interest one day. I was drawn off the waitlist for The Barkley Fall Classic (BFC as it is known by). Honestly, I had forgotten I put my name on the waitlist earlier in the year and was super excited when reading this note. It didn’t take me long to accept via the UltraSignup page and confirm my entry. 

Obligatory picture at "the Yellow Gate"

Even though the BFC is a 50 km race I was willing to make the 14 hour+ travel to get there without hesitation (once my family gave me their blessing of course). I have had BFC on my bucket list for a long time ever since discovering my journey into ultramarathons and binging on the various Barkley videos out there.

I travelled after a day of work on Thursday to get to Tennessee by driving over night and having minimal sleep in my car during my travels. Friday I arrived in Wartburg and rolled up to Frozen Head State Park in awe. The lush mountain greenery and landscape was a sight to be had as only ever seeing pictures prior. I parked at the Visitor Center/ Park Office and put on my trail shoes to check out the area and shake out my legs from being in the car for what seems like forever at this point. It was very cool to see some of the park trails and then get to go over and bestow my eyes on the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, which included the exit of the prison tunnel and the bottom of the infamous Rat Jaw climb.

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary | Petros, TN.

The first time the race map is revealed is during packet pickup, which was Friday afternoon. Most people are lined up and eager to get a peek at what was about to come the next day. Not knowing Frozen Head State Park (FHSP) and the exact trail layout I was somewhat oblivious to what the map was telling me…but I was about to find out very soon.

My BFC 2021 map prior to opening it u and trying to figure out where I am heading in the morning..

Race Day

• started just before sunrise with 415 other runners all masked up just prior to sunset. Humidity was in the air along with the excitement of the start.

• lots of climbing uphill, some downhill and yet we finished at the same spot we started, but I swear there was twice as much up than down (hmmm, my math doesn’t quite work….kind of like the old folk tale of your grandparents telling you they walked to school & it was uphill both ways).

• no GPS allowed, minimal course marking, but more than enough since we were all provided a map the day before at packet pickup.

• small creek crossing early in the race to ensure no runner had dry feet.

• torrential rain made this event much more challenging, muddy, and overall interesting adventure.

• briars, “rat bites”, poison ivy, chiggers, and many scratches to my shirt and hydration vest.

• fog & rain downpour on top of Frozen Head Mountain by the fire lookout tower was just like in the videos on Barkley, but much cooler atmosphere in person when you can soak in the entire surrounding with fellow ultrarunners.

• Tennessee yellow jackets are big. I got stung once on the back of my right calf after the prior runners ahead of me stirred and angered them where they seemed to be hanging out.

• 50 km out at Frozen Head State Park is hard, no question about it.

• crossed the finish line at 11:30:23 (by far my longest 50 km time)

Thank You & Kudos

• Huge thank you to Gary Cantrell (aka Lazarus Lake, aka Laz) & Steve Durbin for putting on a stellar event. This ultra lived up to the hype and the draw that only BFC type event can create. 

• Thank you as well to Larry Kelley, whom I met out there briefly in sharing some guidance to newcomers (virgins, such as myself) and helped out on course during race day at one of the junctions. 

• Of course, I cannot thank the incredible volunteers who braved the relentless rain and were not even moving to stay warm like the runners. The local high school football team, Coalfield Yellow Jackets, were there running the aid stations after a stellar performance of their own the night before. Thank you to all those local boys for helping every runner in their pursuit of the BFC.

• Jenny El Tee (@luoyunghwa) for some incredible race photos of the participants crossing the creek and again up on top of the Rat Jaw climb. Photos are great and thank you for braving the weather yourself especially with all your photo gear equipment out there in the elements.

Photo Credit: Jenny El Tee | Jennifer Thorsen Photography | @luoyunghwa

Photo Credit: Jenny El Tee | Jennifer Thorsen Photography | @luoyunghwa

BFC

Legend has it The Barkley Fall Classic was created to allow more people to experience Frozen Head State Park and the allure of the now popularized Barkley Marathons by showing them how hard 50 km can be in this area and disincentive people from pursuing signing up for the Big Barkley (as it is referred to), but also to give people a taste of the Barkley allure itself. My opinion now that I have run BFC is that my respect level has gone up drastically for anyone who has ever toed the line at Barkley Marathons. Seeing the area, the topography, and some of the famous features out at Frozen Head State Park in person really put things in perspective that the YouTube videos & the Netflix documentary simply can not. 

Ultimately, I am grateful to go into The Barkley Fall Classic classed as a virgin (first time starter) and managed to come out being labelled as a BFC veteran (50k finisher) now. The Croix de Barque is a very cool finishers medal to have earned and I am proud of this accomplishment.

my 50 km finishers Croix de Barque

This race is hard. The experience was well worth the drive it took me to get there & back.

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Thank you for following along. Next Up:

 Franklin Mountains Trail Run | King of Mtn (Nov-12), 100 km (Nov-13)