Miss These 6 Trail and Ultra Entry Windows and You'll Wait 1 Year: 2027 Dates and How to Get In

Reykjavík, Iceland

1Laugavegur Ultra Marathon: How Iceland's 55K Picks Its Field in Two Rounds

It takes two to three hours by bus from Reykjavík to reach the start. The one-way route starts on the Landmannalaugar highland, with its multicolored volcanic ridgelines, crosses sand, old snow and cold rivers, and ends in the birch forest of Húsadalur in Þórsmörk. There are no villages or shops on the way, so the organizers say the start and finish are both reached only by race bus.

Getting a spot isn't the last hurdle—there are still the cutoffs. There are checkpoint cutoffs at two huts, Álftavatn and Emstrur, and the finish closes at 9 hours 15 minutes. Still, more than 97 percent of starters finished in 2024.

Entry opens at noon on November 11 and closes at 0:00 on November 18. Both times are GMT, and results come out on the 25th. The race picks in two rounds.

Applicants who beat the organizers' trail-time standard get spots first, split equally between men and women. The remaining spots go to the lottery. The standards and how to document them are listed separately on the official entry page.

Before you apply, check which side your own times fall on.

Laugavegur Ultra MarathonSat, July 17, 2027 · D-245 · Reykjavík, IcelandSee race details

Olympic Valley, United States

2Western States 100: Why Every Year You Miss Doubles Your Tickets

The world's oldest 100-mile trail race starts 369 runners. The number is set by a U.S.

Forest Service permit, so even the organizers can't raise it. From Olympic Valley to Auburn, you cover the Sierra Nevada's mountain trails and canyons in 30 hours or less. Francesco Puppi, who ran his first 100-miler at the 2026 race, described the first half in his YouTube video: "I had the expectation before the race ...

that at least the first half it was all about letting the miles go by and finding out after a couple of hours that it was not the case." To get your name in the draw, you first need a qualifying finish. It has to be a designated race finished within its cutoff, and for this draw only results through November 8, 2026 count.

The draw is on December 5. Does a year you lose just disappear? The Western States draw counts it.

You get 2^(n-1) tickets in the hat, where n is the number of years you've applied. One ticket the first year, two the second, four the third. According to the official guidance, tickets you've built up stay with you even if you skip a year.

There are routes around the draw, of course, like top finishes at Golden Ticket races. But for most runners the draw is the only way in. The 75-person waitlist is also set by lottery.

One warning: if you win a spot and then decline to register, all the tickets you've banked disappear with it.

Western States 100-Mile Endurance RunSat, June 26, 2027 · D-224 · Olympic Valley, United StatesSee race details

Katoomba, Australia

3Six Foot Track Marathon: A 3-Day Window to Enter Australia's 45K

The course follows a carriage road cut in 1884 between Katoomba and the Jenolan Caves, six feet wide so two wagons could pass. It starts near Explorer's Tree, drops down the narrow stone path of Nellie's Glen, crosses the Coxs River, climbs a fire trail and finishes at the caves. You get 7 hours to cover the 45K.

The general draw is open for only three days. It opens at 9 a.m.

Australian Eastern Time on December 2 and closes at 5 p.m. on the 4th.

Before that, entries open for preferred and deferred entrants. Results come by email and on Facebook. If you get in, sort out your transport first.

It's a point-to-point course, so the start and finish are in different places—James Edson, who filmed the 2026 race, said the bus ride from the finish back to the start alone took 3 hours. At 29K, he put it this way: "Couple of really big climbs. Legs are feeling pretty battered."

Six Foot Track MarathonSat, March 13, 2027 · D-119 · Katoomba, AustraliaSee race details

Leadville, United States

4Leadville Trail 100: No Qualifier Needed, but the Start Line Sits at 3,100 Meters

Leaving the old Colorado mining town of Leadville, you cross 3,800-meter Hope Pass, touch the turnaround at Winfield and come back the same way, a 100-mile out-and-back. Finish within 30 hours and you earn the small belt buckle, within 25 and it's the big one. Unlike Western States, Leadville doesn't ask for a qualifier when you apply.

Anyone 18 or older on race day can enter the draw. Applying is free. Only winners are charged the entry fee, on the card they have on file.

Each person can apply only once, and team entries were dropped in 2025. Outside the draw, there are priority spots for Life Time club members, series qualifiers, training-camp packages and charity entries. But even the lowest point on the traditional course sits above 2,800 meters.

The runner behind the YouTube channel The Guidebook, whose first-ever ultra was Leadville in 2026, said on the way down Hope Pass for the second time: "I'm not really sweating anymore. My mouth is fried." If you live at low elevation, book your lodging the day the acceptance email arrives—and pick the date you'll show up a few days early to acclimate.

Leadville Trail 100 RunSat, August 21, 2027 · D-280 · Leadville, United StatesSee race details

Lone Pine, United States

5No Lottery at Badwater 135: How Application Review Works for 217 Kilometers of Desert Road

The start line sits at the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin, 85 meters below sea level. From there you run across Death Valley in July, climb over three mountain ranges, and finish at Whitney Portal, 2,548 meters above sea level. It's 217 kilometers, with a 45-hour cutoff.

This isn't a trail race—you run on open public roads. There's no lottery. A race committee reads the applications and picks a little over 100 runners on paper alone.

The application deadline runs on Pacific Time. To apply, you first need to have finished four ultras of 100 miles or longer, and one of them has to fall after January 1, 2026. There are no race-provided aid stations, so each runner's vehicle and a crew of two to four people handle all the support.

"There are no aid stations, no drop bags. You don't do Badwater alone." That's how Jeff Pelletier opens the video of his own race.

So the committee reads more than a results sheet. Organizers say experience in extreme heat counts for you, as does a record of working as Badwater crew or as a pacer. There's no line to wait in if you're turned down.

Badwater doesn't keep a waitlist.

Badwater 135Mon, July 19, 2027 · D-247 · Lone Pine, United StatesSee race details

Zegama, Spain

6Zegama-Aizkorri: 225 Lottery Spots and a Rule That Hasn't Been Reissued Yet

"The Eurodisney of trail." That's how the runner behind the Spanish YouTube channel Kilómetro Vertical Torrelavega described the town after racing the vertical kilometer during Zegama week in 2026. Even with poles, walking wasn't an option—the crowd kept pushing runners on with shouts of "Venga, dale, dale."

The race starts in Zegama, a small town in Spain's Basque Country, and loops through the Aratz and Aizkorri ranges before coming back. From Santi Spiritu up to the Aizkorri summit, runners climb single file between spectators packed along both sides. The distance is 42.195K, the same as a marathon.

But the combined ascent and descent comes to 5,472 meters. The cutoff is 8 hours, with 11 checkpoint cutoffs along the way, and the first, at Ultzama, closes 1 hour 25 minutes after the start. Pre-registration opens at noon local time on January 11 on the official registration platform, and applications by phone or email aren't accepted.

The lottery hands out 225 spots. The rest go to past finishers and top performers with guaranteed places, plus the organizers' own allocation. The previous edition's rules had a formula for runners who missed out: one extra number for every lottery you'd already entered.

The new race announcement hasn't restated that rule yet.

Zegama-Aizkorri Mountain MarathonSun, June 6, 2027 · D-204 · Zegama, SpainSee race details