Denali100k
Great Alaskan Endurance Race
The 2024 Denali100k will be held on June 21st. Summer Solstice!!
Registration closes May 1st 2024 or when 50 runners have registered.
Alaska…….Denali……Big, Wild & Wide Open Places.
With 20,310’ tall Denali and surrounding Alaska Range Mountains and glaciers as its backdrop, the 135 Mile Denali Highway is the setting for the spectacular Denali135, Denali100K & Denali50K Endurance Races. The Denali Highway was the original and only road into Denali National Park from 1957 until 1971 and it is still as breathtaking and jaw dropping today as it was more than 50 years ago.
Hardy and qualified adventurous athletes from around the World are invited to challenge themselves along half the length of the historic gravel road from Paxson Alaska, the headwaters of the wild Gulkana River, to Cantwell Alaska…. Adjacent to the entrance to Denali National Park.
Superlative panoramic vistas reach out for miles in every direction bathed in the nearly 20hrs of arctic daylight each day during the race. National Geographic rightly called the Denali Highway one of the top ten most scenic roads in North America.
The Denali100k will be limited to 50 runners and their crew and pacers.
Registration Deadlines
Registration
- Sept.1st 2023 Registration Opens.
- May 1st 2024 or when 50 runners have registered it closes.
- May 7th 2024 Qualifying races must be submitted.
Registration Details
**Runners will be informed of their registration acceptance if they are received along with their qualifying race info.
*** Runners Info Package and Crew & Pacer Rules will be sent within 30 days of their registration acceptance. Once runners are accepted, they will be responsible for passing the Crew & Pacer Rules onto their respective crews and pacers.
**There will be no registration refunds for the Denali135, Denali100K & Denali50K races. Possible deferments to the next year’s race may…MAY…be made at the sole discretion of the race director. As you can imagine, significant logistics are involved in organization of this race and so we simply are unable to make refunds…..deferments possibly…refunds…sorry.
Denali100K Race Schedule 2023
June 21st – Mandatory Pre-Race Briefing at Alpine Creek Lodge at 5pm
June 21st – 6:00pm Race Start at Alpine Creek Lodge.
June 22nd – Noon Cut-off at finish line near Cantwell end of Denali Highway.
June 23rd– 6:00pm Post Race Dinner Party at Denali Education Center In Talkeetna.
*Runners and crews staying at other nearby lodging can continue on with their own schedule after the post-race award dinner.
Watch the 2022 Denali Ultramarathons Video
Please visit the following pages for Very Important Event Details
Race Format & Time Cut-Offs
Individual runners with mandatory support crew and optional pacers.
Maximum of 18hrs allotted to complete the Denali100K
Pacers and Crew
Each runner must be accompanied by a support vehicle/crew who can supply food and water and support to the runner during and throughout the race. One pacer at a time may also accompany the runner but no one pacer may run more than 30 miles with their runner. This pacer can also share in crewing/driving the support vehicle.
Support Vehicle and Crew & Pacer Rules/Details will be sent to runners within 30 days of their registrations being accepted.
Awards
Runners completing the Denali100K course in 18hrs or under will receive a one of a kind Denali100K belt buckle and Denali100K finishers shirt. There will be overall men’s and women’s winners special awards as well.
To Qualify
Denali100K Applicants must have completed at least one 50K race and two marathons in the previous 2 years or be able to prove to the Race Director that they have sufficient training to have a reasonably good chance of completing the race within the allotted time.
Qualifying races must have been completed within the maximum time allotted for the race.
The Denali100K has the same runner and crew cap of 50 runners.
Denali100k Course
The Denali100K is also a point to point race which starts at approx. halfway across the Denali Highway at the Alpine Creek Lodge and then heads west before finishing outside Cantwell Alaska at the same finish line as the Denali135 runners.
Denali100K Runners. Runners and crews will check in at the Alpine Creek Lodge no later than 1hour before (5PM) the start of the race which is at at 6PM on June 21st.
The amazing subalpine scenery begins when racers and crew start at Alpine Creek Lodge at mile 68. The lodge offers rooms and cabins, restaurant and light supplies.
Racers, pacers and their crews press on until they reach the Susitna River Bridge at mile 79.5.
Leaving the Susitna River Valley, the road continues on now with no services or lodging until the end. Runners, pacers and crew need to plan this section well because other than the road and occasional passing motorist, they will be alone on the Denali Highway for the next 50 miles until they reach the finish outside Cantwell. Mount Deborah and Hess keep participants company until, weather permitting, 20,320’ Denali makes it’s appearance to the west and rewards the persistent with jaw dropping views of North America’s tallest peak.
Runner Mandatory Equipment
- Spot GPS Tracker or Garmin In Reach (Spot Trackers can be rented through Spirit-Trips at Ultrasignup)
- Buff for warmth, dust and bug protection.
- Sufficient Water Bottles or Hydration Vest
- 500 Calories of energy bars, Gu, gels or equivalent at all times.
- High Visibility reflective vest to be worn from Dusk to Dawn (Only about 4 hours…if that)
- Flashing blinker from Dusk to Dawn
- Runner Bib with racer number visible at all times
Pacer Mandatory Equipment
- Buff for warmth, dust and bug protection.
- Sufficient Water Bottles/Hydration Vest
- Quality Headlamp and fresh batteries.
- High Visibility Reflective vest from Dusk to Dawn
- Flashing blinker from Dusk to Dawn
- Pacer Bib with racer number visible at all times
Giving Back
Contributing back to the communities where we hold our races is super important to us at Spirit Trips. In the case of the Denali50K, Denali100K & Denali135, we have chosen to raise awareness and donations for the Denali Education Center. The people at The Denali Education Center strive to bring awareness and appreciation for Denali National Park and their programs and outreach range from taking visitors on 2 hour interpretive guided natural history walks to multi day immersive nature programs for youth who without the Denali Education Centers outreach and passion, would never have a chance to experience the wonder of Denali.
Spirit Trips will be donating a portion of each race registration fee to The Denali Education Center and we strongly encourage our runners and their crew & pacers to do donate however they feel they can.
To share the words of Henry David Thoreau…..
“In Wilderness is the preservation of the World”
Our Sponsors
Any Denali135, Denali50K, Denali100k & Media and Sponsorship Inquiries can be sent to Sean@Spirit-Trips.com
For more information on sponsorship opportunities see our
Event Partners page