For the second year in a row I watched via Twitter as the names were drawn for the Hardrock 100. For the second year in a row, my name wasn't pulled for the starters list, nor was it pulled for the 100 name Wait List. I'm completely shut out of the Hardrock 100. This years lottery saw 703 entrants from all over United States and 15 foreign countries. Of the 721 entrants, 36 received automatic entries and the rest shared 1,325 lottery chances. Myself? I had 2 tickets in this years lottery. Some folks had as many as 7 tickets.
Words really can't describe how disappointed I am in not getting into The Hardrock 100. This is by far my epic dream race. I feel guilt because I have myself to blame. Or do I? I kind of consider myself one of the "considerate ones." Allow me to explain. I've finished a qualifying race, every year, since I started running 100 mile races.
2007: Grand Teton 100
2008: Massanutten 100
2009: Massanutten 100
2010: Western States 100
2011: Leadville Trail 100
Even though I've qualified all of these years.. I never threw my name into that hat until last year (2010 Lottery for 2011 Race). Why? Because I knew I wasn't ready to take on Hardrock despite having finished any of these other races. I call myself one of the "considerate" ones because I refuse to put my name into a lottery unless I truly believe that I have a 90% or higher chance of finishing the race I've applied for. Call me bitter, and maybe I am.. but I saw a few names of folks who were picked in the lottery that I'd bet my life savings on them not even making it to the 100K mark.
And so I blame myself. If I had applied to Hardrock in all previous years, I would have had 5 tickets in this years lottery and one hell of a chance of actually getting in. Instead, I spent a good portion of my Sunday coming up with an entirely new plan for the 2012 Ultra-Running season. Hardrock was going to be my only 100 miler this year. Now, I'm going to run the Bighorn 100 and have entered my name into the Wasatch 100 Lottery. I figure if I DNF at Bighorn, I'll have a second chance at finishing a qualifier at Wasatch. Either way.. I'll be in next years lottery with 3 tickets.
I'm not going to sit here and complain about the lottery process. I think Hardrocks is one of the most fair and they maintain a reasonable entry fee with a grass roots feel. I completely admire the event and I'm determined to run it. So, I'll keep running and qualifying and hoping that those who truly don't belong will get the hell out of my way. : )
Bitter... yeah... a little.
Sherpa John
Monday, December 5, 2011
5 comments:
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I commend your practice of "being considerate" and not entering the lottery of a race you are not ready to run. I've thought about that for WS for a few years, but I'm not ready for a 100-miler, so I don't enter.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think you might be jumping to conclusions when you say "I saw a few names of folks who were picked in the lottery that I'd bet my life savings on them not even making it to the 100K mark." Unless you are familiar with all the circumstances surrounding their past failures and know their training plans for the next 8 months, you might find yourself surprised come July.
It's easy to "bet" your life savings when it's 50 bucks! :)
ReplyDeleteI feel pretty crashed too, and I understand about "considerate entrant". One thing - you wouldn't have had 5 tickets because this year for the first time they did away with 1 ticket total no matter how many times you applied before. I lost 4 tickets myself for previous DNS's. I do agree with first commenter that sometimes walkers surprise us on HR course. But I also see the idea behind "prove your love for the sport with many 100's and sticking around as well as going to HR and helping out". I am done trying again:)
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. While it was nice to see I finally made the "official" wait list, number 55 is not particularly promising.
ReplyDeleteThis is 0 for 3 for me now, and like Olga said, I only had two tickets this year as well. The only way to get more is to volunteer for the trail work weekend (which I almost did last summer had it not been for a scheduling conflict)
I suppose if we try enough, eventually we should get in. Although it seems with the popularity of ultrarunning seemingly increasing exponentially....the odds keep going down every year. When I applied two years ago there were only 450 lottery entrants or so....now almost 800 I think.
I think the key is to just find other races that you really enjoy...that still retain some of that grassroots feel that you talk about. This past year I discovered OIl Creek 100...and it is now a new favorite of mine.
Perhaps I'll see you in CO next year. I signed up for Leadville again, and would love a good pacer.
hike on,
-j
John, Olga,
ReplyDeleteThe ticket policy concerning DNS's was changed in 2008. In an email to the Hardrock list dated April 3, 2008, Blake Wood stated the new rule:
"- Before, you got one ticket for each DNF or DNS (including being wait listed) in the previous three years, up to a maximum of two tickets. Now, you get a maximum of one ticket if you were a DNS (including being wait listed) in the previous three years. NO additional tickets are given for DNFs."
And you still get the DNS ticket if you got to run the last two years, but had a DNS three years ago.