Western States Endurance Run Announces 2024’s Golden Ticket Races – and a Beast Coast Entry

This article originally appeared on Trail Runner

On May 28th, 2023 the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) updated its schedule and criteria for the 2024 Golden Ticket races. For the third consecutive year, the lineup will include three international races, including CCC, Doi Inthanon Thailand 100M, and Nice Cote d'Azur. Now, East Coast runners are one step closer to entry with the addition of the Grindstone 100k in Virginia. The original UTMB 100-miler has been replaced by the CCC 100k, and the Tarawera 100k replaced by Grindstone. Black Canyon 100k will offer three golden tickets to the full podium, vs the other events’ two.

The Western States Endurance Run is the U.S.'s oldest and most competitive 100-mile race and has long depended on a lottery system to modulate the number of runners on the start line. Golden Ticket events give the top two runners automatic entry into the race, allowing them to bypass the competitive lottery. In this system, 30 spots are reserved for Golden Ticket winners in WSER. If the recipient of the Golden Ticket winner already has an entry (either through the lottery or another Golden Ticket event) the ticket rolls down to the next runner without entry. All runners who finish in the top ten at Western States also get automatic entry the next year.

There are now five Golden Ticket races in the U.S., and each year these events get even more competitive. Historically, there have been five to six Golden Ticket events in the U.S. Notably, the Lake Sonoma 50 is no longer on the docket, which was the only sub-100k chance at a Golden Ticket. All the remaining events are now at least 100k, which is WSER's current qualifying distance. There are now only two 100-mile qualifiers: Doi Inthanon Thailand 100M, and Javelina Jundred (Arizona).

The inclusion of four UTMB-branded events signals the coalescing of trail running's most competitive events under a single UTMB banner. Additionally, if runners want to run CCC in Chamonix, France, they need to first run a UTMB-branded race to collect sufficient running stones to qualify.

2024 Golden Ticket Races

CCC by UTMB 100K France, Italy, Switzerland, September 1, 2023

Grindstone by UTMB 100K Virginia, September 23, 2023

Nice Cote d'Azur by UTMB 115K France, September 30, 2023

Javelina Jundred Presented by HOKA 100M Arizona, October 28, 2023

Doi Inthanon Thailand by UTMB 100M Thailand, December 8, 2023

Black Canyon Presented by HOKA 100K, Arizona, February 10, 2024 (top 3 M/F)

The Canyons by UTMB Presented by HOKA 100K, California, April 27, 2024

Zoe Rom is Editor In Chief of Trail Runner magazine, and Managing Editor of Women's Running.

When she's not running, she's writing, and when she's not climbing she's cooking or eating. Southern story-teller turned mountain-dweller, she starts every day with a cup of strong coffee and a good story. Her work has appeared in REI Co-op Journal, Discover, Rock & Ice, Trail Runner, Backpacker, and Threshold Podcast. She currently hosts and produces the DNF Podcast. She is co-author of the forthcoming book, Becoming a Sustainable Runner with Tina Muir.

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