How to enter the 2021 UTMB lottery

The 2021 edition of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) is set to run from August 23 to 29 in Chamonix, France, and organizers have announced that the registration process is in the third and final stage before the fields are finally announced. If you’re looking to race any of the UTMB events (there are seven to choose from), here’s how to get your name in the lottery for a chance to run. But hurry, because you only have until February 11 to do so. 

Ouverte à tous, la phase 3 des inscriptions à l'UTMB® Mont-Blanc 2021 est lancée ! Si vous souhaitez nous rejoindre sur la ligne de départ cet été, vous avez jusqu'au 11 février à 23h59 pour vous préinscrire au tirage au sort.

https://t.co/Acxs5lwEny pic.twitter.com/xA3PjRXcEP

— UTMB® (@UTMBMontBlanc) February 4, 2021

Entering the lottery

The first two phases of the UTMB registration process ran through the bulk of January. The first phase was reserved for runners who had registered for the UTMB races in 2020. The second phase was open to runners who tried to get into a UTMB event in 2019 and 2020, only to not win a spot in the field. Finally, the third phase, which closes in a few days, is the chance to get one’s name in the UTMB lottery. This is far from a guarantee that you’ll get to race, but if you have any hope to run UTMB, you’ll need to get your name in this system. 

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The lottery is for five of the UTMB events: the CCC, the TDS, the OCC, the PTL and the big one, UTMB itself (all of these events are outlined below). The lottery system will only be used if spots in each event remain to be filled. 

You can’t just enter the lottery, though, as UTMB has a qualifying system. To have a chance to register for UTMB, a runner must have accumulated 10 “points” between the start of 2018 and the end of 2020. To race TDS, a runner needs eight points; for CCC, six points; and for OCC, four points. Points are earned at qualifying races (which are listed on the UTMB website), and a runner’s total can only be from a maximum of two races in order to qualify for these UTMB events. 

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The races

The seven events to choose from are listed below. 

• YCC is an event for kids born between 1999 and 2007, and it is 15K long with 1,200m of elevation gain
• MCC is 40K long with 2,300m of elevation gain
• PTL is a 300K trek with 25,000m of climbing, although it’s not a race, and instead an “ultra-endurance pedestrian event” that participants complete in teams 
• OCC is a 56K race with 3,500m of elevation gain
• CCC is 101K and it features 6,100m of climbing
• TDS is 145K with a whopping 9,100m of elevation gain
• UTMB is 170K long with 10,000m of climbing from start to finish 

To learn more about the UTMB qualifying system, click here.