This weekend within the Sonoran Desert east of Phoenix, Arizona, the Javelina 100 Mile will happen with over 1,500 runners competing throughout three distances. Dubbed “ultrarunning’s largest occasion,” the Javelina 100 Mile has additionally turn out to be one of the vital aggressive 100-mile races in the USA.

The marquee occasion of the weekend, the 100-mile race, has, for the final two years, served as one of many seven Western States 100 Golden Ticket Races. Every of the races within the Golden Ticket Races collection presents prime rivals an opportunity to achieve entry to the Western States 100 and this weekend’s Javelina 100 Mile appears to be like to be a barn burner.

Arlen Glick, 2021 Javelina 100 Mile champion. Picture: Javelina 100 Mile

Twenty years in the past, then well-liked path shoe firm Montrail started internet hosting a collection of races throughout the USA known as the Montrail Extremely Cup. On the time these races have been unfold throughout the basic extremely distances of fifty kilometers, 50 miles, and 100k, and usually awarded the highest two or three finishers entry into the Western States 100.

Races got here and went within the collection. Some previous races included the Means Too Cool 50k, Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, Ice Age 50 Mile, and Mountain Masochist 50 Mile. In 2013, two 100-mile races, the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile and Pinhoti 100 Mile, have been added to the collection, and for a couple of extra years 100-mile races remained a part of the collection.

Because the Western States 100’s presenting sponsorship modified and ultrarunning advanced into a real international sport, the Golden Ticket Collection — because it got here to be known as after Montrail left the scene — was predominantly there to supply North American runners with an opportunity to achieve entry into the Western States 100, whereas worldwide runners had related alternatives to take action by way of the now defunct Extremely-Path World Tour.

Golden Ticket Races continued to return and go, as some regional occasions just like the Georgia Dying Race 74 Mile have been eradicated and different conventional 100k path races, the Black Canyon 100k for instance, have been added. By 2019, the Golden Ticket Races collection had established itself as one of many prime ultramarathon race collection on this planet.

Keely Henninger (in pink), the 2023 Black Canyon 100k girls’s winner. Picture: Jesse Ellis/@letswanderphotography

After the demise of the Extremely-Path World Tour, the Golden Ticket Races expanded to incorporate extra worldwide races. In 2021, for qualification to the 2022 race, there have been two French races added — UTMB and Endurance Path des Templiers. Starting in 2022 and 2023, races in France, New Zealand, and Thailand have been included alongside extra conventional North American races.

The collection had by now additionally expanded to happen all yr lengthy, whereas beforehand it had been scheduled within the January to Might window following the Western States 100 lottery in December.

All of this background brings us to the 2023 to 2024 model of the Golden Ticket Races — to me, probably the most mature model of the collection to this point. To date this season, 4 Golden Tickets every have been awarded on the CCC in France, Grindstone 100k by UTMB in Virginia — marking the return of the Golden Ticket Races to the U.S. East Coast for the primary time in a number of years — and the Good Cote D’Azur 115k by UTMB, additionally in France.

This weekend’s Javelina 100 Mile would be the first of two 100-mile Golden Ticket Races, with the second happening on the Doi Inthanon Thailand 100 Mile by UTMB in December. The ultimate two races of the collection shall be two basic North American 100ks, the Black Canyon 100k in Arizona in February, 2024, and the Canyons 100k in California in April, 2024. When the mud settles, 30 athletes from world wide could have punched their tickets to the Western States 100 by way of the Golden Ticket Races.

For these of you coming down right here to the desert for the Javelina 100 Mile or Black Canyon 100k, I sit up for seeing you!

Bottoms up!

AJW’s Beer of the Week

This week’s Beer of the Week comes from State 48 Brewery in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Javelina Hefeweizen is a basic German wheat beer with a contact of sweetness. A clean, well-balanced beer weighing in at 5% ABV, it goes completely with absolutely anything. Should you’re coming to Phoenix, be sure you cease by State 48.

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