When is the Leadville Trail 100 lottery?

Lottery entry for the 2027 Leadville Trail 100 Run and MTB is open from December 1 to December 15, 2026, closing at 11:59 PM MST on December 15. Life Time member guaranteed spots open earlier, on November 24, 2026 at 10:00 AM MST. All entrants are notified of their result in January 2027; the race publishes the month only and has not named a day, and it has likewise not named the day qualifier race registration opens in January. In the previous cycle notification fell on January 8 and qualifier registration opened January 9 at 10:00 AM MST. Read from the official Leadville Race Series lottery and qualification page on September 14, 2026.

How do you get into the Leadville Trail 100 without the lottery?

There are six published non-lottery routes into the Leadville Trail 100 Run and MTB: finishing a Leadville Race Series qualifier race and claiming a qualifier coin, buying a Training Camp plus Entry package, buying a Coaching plus Entry package through Boundless Coaching, registering through an official charity partner, volunteering, and Life Time Club-Access member priority registration for members of at least six months. Each Leadville Race Series qualifier awards a minimum of 35 qualifier coins, given only to athletes who finish the longest distance at that event, and coin winners must be present at the awards ceremony to claim the entry. For the 2027 races, Life Time member guaranteed spots open November 24, 2026 at 10:00 AM MST. Verified September 14, 2026.

What are the odds of getting into the Leadville Trail 100 lottery?

The Leadville Race Series does not publish the number of lottery applicants, the number of lottery entries available, or a selection rate for either 100-mile race, so no accurate odds figure exists publicly. What is published is the structure: the field is capped by a special-use permit, and guaranteed entries are awarded through six non-lottery channels before the draw. Qualifier races alone account for at least 105 Run entries and at least 210 MTB entries, based on the stated minimum of 35 qualifier coins at each of three Run qualifiers and six MTB qualifiers.

How do you get into the Leadville Trail 100?

Seven published routes, only one of which is the lottery. The 2027 lottery opens December 1 and closes December 15, 2026. Life Time member guaranteed spots open November 24 at 10:00 AM MST, a week earlier. Everyone is notified in January 2027, on a day the race has not named. If you are planning a year out, the calendar matters more than the luck.

Updated 2026-09-14. The official Leadville Race Series lottery and qualification page now carries the 2027 cycle, read in full at 8:45 PM MT that evening; this page previously carried the 2026 cycle, read 2026-08-16, and those dates are kept below as the historical record. Two 2027 dates are still not published: the notification day in January and the day qualifier registration opens. When that page changes again, this one changes.

The 2027 calendar, as published

Date	What opens
Nov 24, 2026, 10:00 AM MST	Life Time member guaranteed spots, first come first served until the allocation is filled; Lead Challenge and Camp + Entry member windows open the same morning and run to Dec 1
Dec 1, 2026	Lottery entry opens for the 2027 Run and the 2027 MTB
Dec 15, 2026, 11:59 PM MST	Lottery entry closes; last moment to withdraw an entry by email to the support team
January 2027, day not published	All entrants notified of their result; selected cards charged
January 2027, day not published	Qualifier race registration opens, first come first served; Life Time member registration for qualifiers opens one week before that

Read from the official lottery and qualification page on 2026-09-14. Two notes on how that page words it. The lottery window, the withdrawal deadline and the member opening are stated as future dates; the Lead Challenge and Camp + Entry member windows carry the same 11/24/2026 to 12/1/2026 dates but are written in the past tense, so a reader glancing at them may think the window has already gone. It has not. And the January dates are given as a month only, where the last cycle named specific days.

The 2026 cycle, for shape, as this page carried it from 2026-08-16: member spots Nov 24, 2025; applications Dec 1 to Dec 15, 2025; notification Jan 8, 2026; qualifier and camp-only registration Jan 9, 2026 at 10:00 AM MST. If 2027 follows the same spacing, notification lands in the first half of January with qualifiers the morning after, but the race has not said so.

1. The lottery

Free to enter. A card is collected at application and charged only if you are drawn, along with the processing fee and any add-ons. Merchandise added at registration is charged only on selection; a donation is charged immediately and, the race states plainly, does not increase your chance of selection.

One application per person, and the team-entry option was removed in 2025, so everyone applies as an individual. Anyone who already holds an entry to that year's event may not enter its lottery. If you are drawn and your card declines, you get a follow-up email the same day and one week to fix it before the spot is forfeited. Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. Withdrawal is by email to the support team before the close of the window.

2. Qualifier races

The most reliable route, and the one that rewards planning rather than luck. Each Leadville Race Series qualifier awards a minimum of 35 LT100 qualifier coins, and coins go only to athletes who finish the longest distance at that event. You must be 18 on race day. The exact number of slots at each event is at the Series' discretion, so 35 is a floor rather than a figure.

Run qualifiers: Leadville Trail Marathon, Silver Rush 50 Run, Austin Rattler Run. MTB qualifiers: Sea Otter Fuego XL, Lutsen 99er, Silver Rush 50 MTB, Leadville Stage Race, Little Sugar MTB, Austin Rattler MTB. Both lists are unchanged from the 2026 cycle, re-checked 2026-09-14. Registration opens in January and sells out, and coin winners must be present at the awards ceremony to claim the entry.

Arithmetic worth holding onto: three Run qualifiers at a minimum of 35 coins each is at least 105 guaranteed Run entries before the lottery is drawn, and six MTB qualifiers at the same floor is at least 210. Those entries, plus camp, coaching, charity, volunteer and member spots, come out of the same permitted field the lottery draws from.

3. Training Camp + Entry packages

A camp on the actual course with a guaranteed entry attached. Life Time members get a head start, Nov 24 to Dec 1, 2026, on the same schedule as the Lead Challenge window. These sold out in the last cycle. Camp-only packages, without the entry, opened in January with the qualifiers.

4. Coaching + Entry packages

A training program plus guaranteed entry, sold through Boundless Coaching, which the race series names as its official coaching partner.

5. Charity slots

Registering through an official charity partner guarantees entry and bypasses the lottery entirely. The commitment is a fundraising one; the partner sets the terms.

6. Volunteering

The series runs a volunteer program and points at it from the lottery page as a route toward entry. Terms are on the volunteer page rather than the lottery page.

7. Life Time member registration

Members holding a Club-Access membership for at least six months before the registration date may be eligible for a limited number of guaranteed spots, opened first come first served roughly a week before the lottery window. The race states that the exact number of these spots is tied to the event's permit. Members who miss out are directed back to the lottery.

What are the actual odds?

Nobody outside the race can tell you, and the race does not publish it.

The Leadville Race Series does not publish the number of lottery applicants, the number of lottery spots, or a selection rate for either 100-miler. Any percentage you see quoted is somebody's estimate, usually built from a screenshot, a forum thread, or a year-old number applied to a different year. We are not going to add another one.

What is knowable from published sources is the structure, and the structure is the useful part. The field is capped by a Forest Service and BLM special-use permit. Guaranteed entries are handed out through six non-lottery channels before the draw. Qualifiers alone put at least 105 people into the Run and at least 210 into the MTB. So the lottery is not a draw for the whole field, it is a draw for what is left of the field, which is why the athletes who get in year after year are so often the ones who ran a qualifier.

What we do not know yet

The January 2027 notification day, and the day qualifier registration opens. The race publishes the month only. Both were specific dates in the last cycle.
Entry fees for the next cycle.
The permitted field size for either race, which the series has never published.

This page is checked on the daily run and carries new dates the day they appear, with the date of the check. The 2027 window landed on the official page between the 2026-08-16 read and the 2026-09-14 one.

Sources

Leadville Race Series: Lottery & Qualification, the selection rules, qualifier list, coin counts and every guaranteed-entry route above
Official Leadville Trail 100 Run event page, course, permit language and entry terms

Written 2026-08-16 and updated 2026-09-14 from the official pages, which govern. Entry rules, dates and qualifier lists are the race organization's to set and change at any time, and the pages above are the authority if this one falls behind. leadville.co is an independent site with no affiliation to Life Time, the Leadville Race Series or the City of Leadville, and nothing on this page is paid placement. Racing this year instead? See the course weather matrix, the crew and pacer resource index and acclimatization for racers.