Western States Qualifier – The Guzzler Ultra, Australia
The Guzzler Ultra is the newest (and best, in our opinion) Western States qualifier in Australia. This year, all 100km runners are in with a chance to qualify to enter the Western States lottery, drawn on 2nd December 2023. All you need to do is sign up for our main event – The Guzzler Ultra 100km – and complete the course in under 24 hours to earn a ticket for the original 100-mile Endurance Run, held in California 29th – 30th June 2024.
What is Western States?
The Western States® 100-Mile Endurance Run is the original 100-mile trail race. Originally a horse race, The Western States became a trail run by chance in 1974 when a rider named Gordy Ainsley decided he would run with the horses after his own horse fell lame in the weeks before the event. Gordy completed the 100.2-mile journey from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California on foot. Over the following decades, the Western States Endurance Run has evolved to become one of the ultimate endurance tests and a pinnacle event for ultra-trail runners.
Only 369 runners can qualify for a place to race each year in their quest to become a Western States finisher and earn a legendary sub-24-hour silver or a sub-30-hour bronze finishers belt buckle.
How do I Qualify for Western States in Australia?
In order to enter the lottery for the 2024 Western States Endurance Run, runners must complete a specific Western States qualifier event from a select list of quality races (eg. The Guzzler Ultra 100km), in the given qualifyimg time between 7th November 2022 – 5th November 2023.
When you successfully completed your specific Western States Qualifier in the allowable time, runners earn a lottery ticket which they can use to enter an annual lottery draw to win a spot to race.
Due to the incredible demand for spaces and the limited number of permitted runners, the Western States lottery system is used to draw runners for one of the 369 spaces, and 50 waitlist spaces each year.
What Are My Chances In The Lottery?
Each runner who completes a qualifier in any given year earns one ticket for that year. And each year a runner does not gain entry into the run has their tickets roll over to the next lottery they enter, improving the probability of being selected. Every lottery applicant will receive 2^(n-1) tickets in the lottery, where n is the number of years a runner has been in the lottery. For example: 1 ticket in year one, 2 tickets in year 2, 4 in the third year, 8 in the fourth… and so on.
Basically, the more times you enter the lottery, the better the chance you’ll have of earning your spot but we know more than one local runner who has got in on just one ticket… Full details of the Western States entry process are documented on the official website.
So why wait?! Enter The Guzzler Ultra 100km today, and this could be your year to qualify for the world’s oldest 100-miler.
It only takes one ticket.
