Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile Run
What are my chances of
getting in from the waiting list?
You can use the following information to judge how good your chances are of moving from the waiting list to be among the entrants for the 2010 edition of the MMT 100. Please note that we had a limit of 180 entrants for 2009. That limit was 160 entrants for all years prior to 2009.
| Withdrawals | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Month | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
| Dec | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Jan | 23 | 5 | 3 |
| Feb | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| Mar | 7 | 13 | 8 |
| Apr | 19 | 15 | 16 |
| May | 11 | 4 | 7 |
For 2009: Of the 24 people who are listed as withdrawing in January of 2009, 21 of those were selected in the initial lottery but never paid the entry fee. Only 3 were people who actually withdrew after paying the entry fee. For 2008: The number of withdrawals shown in this table for 2008 adds up to 45. While our limit for the event was 160, it was our first year using electronic entry, and we accidentally allowed 162 people into the event on the first day. As a result, the first two withdrawals did not move anyone from the waiting list to the entry list. |
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Withdrawals from the race occur mainly due to injury, and runners who are injured early – December, January - assume that they will heal before MMT. Most wait as long as possible before withdrawing. The table shows that most withdrawals occur close to the run. So, if you are on the waiting list, it may take quite a while before you are moved to the entrants list.
In 2009, we had a lottery to determine the entrants. A total of 333 people entered the lottery. After the 180 entrants were selected, the remaining 153 lottery losers were eligible to join the waiting list. In order, to be placed on the waiting list, lottery losers needed to send in a check to hold their spots on the waiting list. Only 66 did so. All of these people eventually became entrants. In fact, there were five people who were on the waiting list who were not in the original lottery who also became entrants. The last loser drawn in the original lottery was able to run in the 2009 MMT 100.
This final fact would seem unlikely, as we did not have 153 withdrawals from the run. In fact, we had 71 withdrawals from the entrants' list as well as 82 people who withdrew from the waiting list or who were eligible but never joined the waiting list.
The bottom line is that approximately one-third of the 2009 starting field came from the waiting list.
In 2008, the MMT 100 reached its entry limit quickly on the first day of entry. As a result, we had a large waiting list. That year we had a total of 96 people who spent some time on the waiting list. Of that total, 43 people were able to run in the MMT 100. (That was over 25 percent of the field.) But, these were not the first 38 people on the waiting list! This is due to the fact that we had 27 people withdraw from the waiting list, mainly because they didn't want to wait anymore. That meant that the person who was 52nd among all of those who were on the waiting list was eventually able to enter the MMT 100. In fact, of the total of 96 people who were on the waiting list last year, only 26 did not make it into the event or withdraw from the waiting list.
For the 2007 MMT 100, we reached our limit of 160 participants by December 9. (Entry opened on December 1 in 2007.) As a result, we had a waiting list beginning in December.
For 2007, there were 56 people who were on the waiting list at some point. We had a total of 38 of the original entrants to the MMT 100 withdraw. (That was nearly 25 percent of the original field.) This meant that 38 people from the waiting list eventually became entrants. But, these were not the first 38 people on the waiting list! This is due to the fact that we had 16 people withdraw from the waiting list, mainly because they didn't want to wait anymore. That meant that the person who was 54th among all of those who were on the waiting list was eventually able to enter the MMT 100. In fact, of the total of 56 people who were on the waiting list last year, only two did not make it into the event or withdraw from the waiting list.
Updated November 2009