The Javelina Jundred returns to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, near Fountain Hills, Arizona, on 31 October and 1 November, and the 100-mile race again carries a Western States Endurance Run golden ticket. The top two men and top two women in both the 100-mile and 100km races earn automatic entry to the 2027 Western States 100. If a qualifier has already secured a place or declines, the spot rolls down to the next finisher, as far as fifth.
The 100-mile race starts in two waves, at 6:00am and 6:30am on Saturday 31 October, with the 100km following at 7:00am. Runners complete one 22.3-mile opening loop and then four 19.45-mile loops of mostly single-track trail for the 100 miles, or two for the 100km. The 100-mile race has a 30-hour cut-off, so a sub-30-hour finish also serves as a qualifier for the 2027 Western States lottery. A shorter 31km night loop, the Jackass, starts on Saturday evening with an eight-and-a-half-hour limit.
The targets for the front of the race are last year's records. Will Murray's 12:10:12 is the men's 100-mile course record, set in 2025, and Tara Dower's 13:31:47 from the same year is the women's mark. In the 100km, Rajpaul Pannu's 7:15:53 and Anna Louden's 8:13:07, both from 2023, remain the standards. Whether those fall will depend heavily on the desert temperatures, which can swing sharply between a hot afternoon and a cold night.
The format shapes how the race unfolds. Because the course is made up of repeated loops from a single staging area, crews can support runners every lap and rivals can gauge the gaps to one another throughout. For anyone chasing a golden ticket, that makes the second half of the night, when the desert cools and pacing discipline is tested, the part of the race that tends to decide the places.
No elite entry list was published on the organiser's page at the time of writing, so the favourites for the golden tickets will become clearer as the field is confirmed. The race follows a busy autumn for ultra and trail running, which has included the world 100km championships and Megan Eckert's record-breaking six-day run, and it marks one of the last chances for runners to secure a place in Western States without relying on the December lottery.