‘Your Stones Do Not Expire’

I wanted to send another quick reminder and post this separately from the article I published below:

To participate in the lottery, you need at least one Running Stone obtained in the last two years during your pre-registration for the lottery and a valid UTMB Index. Running Stones can be earned by completing races in the UTMB World Series circuit, with the possibility of obtaining 1 to 4 Running Stones per race, and even up to 8 for the Majors. Running Stones are non-perishable and cumulative. Each Running Stone gives you an additional chance to be drawn in the lottery.

To folks being unsure about this, and especially to folks who keep misinterpreting how this UTMB system works, I reiterate:

• Your unused stones do not expire!
• To keep yourself active in the lottery you need to acquire ONE SINGLE stone within a TWO YEAR PERIOD.
• A stone is like a lottery ticket.
• Your UTMB index determines what UTMB finals race you can enter the lottery for.
• UTMB index races can be any independently run race where the race director is willing to add their list to the FREE UTMB Index calendar – it’s easy, I have experience!

So, if you didn’t get picked in the lottery this year, rest easy, your stones do not expire – ever. Just, when you do want to pick this back up, the year prior to wanting to race in Chamonix you need to acquire a single stone (that’s running a 20K) at one of their UMTB World Series events.

And to folks who are spouting online that this system is overly focused on forcing people to run UTMB owned events, it’s just not. There’s no reason to run 2-3 UTMB owned events each year.

This message is for average runners, not elites. Their system and direct qualification possibilities are a bit different and require a bit more focus… because, hey, they are elites. Focus comes with the territory.

Can we put this to rest now? I highly doubt it.