Registration for the 100-mile human-powered race in the White Mountains National Recreation Area will be through a lottery process this year.
Beginning today, prospective racers will have 30 days to sign up online and get their name put in the hat for a lottery drawing that will be held on Oct. 1 at Silver Gulch Brewery in Fox.
The first 55 names drawn will win a spot in the 2012 race, which is scheduled for March 25. The race is limited to a total of 65 participants and race organizers have reserved 10 spots in the race for the winning male and female finishers in each category — ski, bike, foot — in the 2011 race, as well as four race volunteers from the 2011 race.
If any of the six winners do not register for the race or there are fewer than four volunteers who want to enter, those spots will be added to the lottery. All race winners and volunteers must register during the 30-day lottery period or they will forfeit their reserved spot.
If more than four volunteers sign up for the race, a separate lottery of volunteer entries will be held to fill the four reserved spots. Any remaining volunteer entries will be place in the general lottery.
The decision to reserve four race spots for volunteers from the 2011 race “is to show our appreciation for the significant amount of time and effort that our volunteers have given to make this race successful,” Plumb said. There were four or five volunteers from the 2011 race who expressed interest in doing the race.
After the 65 race slots are filled, names will be drawn to determine the order of the waiting list, in the event any of first 65 racers withdraws.
All entries will be taken online at http://white
mountains100.org.
Race organizer Ed Plumb said the lottery is “the fairest means possible to choose a starting field” because so many people want to do the race and the demand for starting slots far exceeds the demand.
Organizers used an online first-come, first-serve registration process last year that resulted in an Internet stampede when the registration period opened at 12:01 a.m.
“It filled up in a matter of hours,” Plumb said. “We wanted to eliminate that, so it’s not a race to register,” Plumb said of the decision to switch to a lottery.
The 30-day registration period opened at 12:01 a.m. today and will close at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 30.
Registration will remain open after the lottery and additional entries will be placed on the waiting list in the order they are received.
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
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