This was the sixth year for the Mountain Lakes 100 race, and the most popular. The race sold out in just 24 minutes, and that was with the registration server getting slammed from all the would-be entrants trying to sign up as soon as it opened.
This is not a big race. The field is just 150 runners. But it is beautiful, well supported, and has some of the best aid stations around (that’s what the racers tell us). With the surge in popularity and the anxiety that goes along with the sign up process, we are moving to a lottery for the 2019 event.
We don’t particularly like lotteries. They feel both fair and unfair at the same time. But we believe that a lottery is the best option for Mountain Lakes 100 in 2019. The upside is that everyone who wants to get in will have a chance to sign up, relatively stress-free, and at a time that is convenient for him or her. The lottery registration is open between February 1st and February 7th. We will randomly draw all the names on February 8th, with the first 170 selected getting into the race and the remaining names going onto the wait list in the order they are drawn. Registration for the wait list will reopen on February 9th.
Those who are placed on the wait list are not charged, unless and until they accept the invitation to move into the race. Don’t give up hope if you end up on the wait list! We tend to go through many names on the wait list in the months before the race. More about the wait list process.
Another new thing for this race, and we are excited about this one, is the 8-hours of trail work requirement. More details to come in our next blog post about this.