After the limited-entry field of 250 for the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb on Bird Ridge filled in less than three hours last year, organizers decided to begin a lottery for the 28th annual race in June.
The free lottery opens Sunday and extends through May 10. Lottery winners will be announced May 13 and receive instructions on registration and entry-fee guidelines for the June 19 race.
The link to register in the lottery can be found on the Alaska Mountain Runners home page at alaskamountainrunners.org.
The Alaska Mountain Runners' board voted to institute a lottery system this year because of high demand and how quickly the field has filled in recent years. Commonly referred to as Bird Ridge, the uphill-only race covers about 3 miles, gains 3,400 feet of elevation gain and is the last mountain-race, tune-up for Mount Marathon, Alaska's iconic mountain race on the Fourth of July in Seward.
"We thought this would be the most fair way to do it,'' said board member Matias Saari. "Last year, the field filled in two and a half hours and if it wasn't on your radar that morning, you were out of luck.''
The race's permit from Chugach State Park limits the field to 250 to minimize impact on Bird Ridge, a popular, accessible trail located about 25 miles south of Anchorage along Turnagain Arm.
After the 10-day lottery application period -- note that there is no advantage in registering in the lottery earlier than later -- a computer program will be used to determine winners.
How many race spots will be available is unclear.
That's because some racers will earn automatic entry into this year's field, based on past results, to maintain integrity in the elite field and reward them for past accomplishments.
The top 10 men's and women's finishers last year will be granted race slots this year. Last year's top three finishers in each gender's age groups, the top three boys and girls in last year's junior race halfway up the mountain, and all former winners in senior and junior divisions can also gain entry.
All those top returners still must register for the race.
According to data Saari assembled, 74 racers meet criteria guaranteeing them a spot in Bird Ridge this year. But some of those qualifiers haven't raced in recent years or will skip the race this season. Former Mount Marathon winner Saari, for instance, finished second in the men's 40-49 age group last year at Bird Ridge, qualifying him for this year's race. But he is running the Dipsea trail race in California on June 12 and won't race Bird Ridge a week later.
Many limited-entry race fields online registration fill quickly. Next week's Turnagain Arm Trail Run recently filled its 200-racer field in about three hours. The Lost Lake Run, a mountain and trail race near Seward, last year filled its field of more than 700 runners in 15 minutes. And in 2014, the 1,500 available spots in the women's-only Alaska Gold Nugget Triathlon filled in five minutes.
The race on Bird Ridge began as the Mystery Solstice Mountain Run in 1989. The race was later renamed after Bob Spurr, a UAA professor and outstanding mountain runner, after he died in a 1995 climbing accident in Colorado.
The inaugural race drew 31 runners. As the popularity of mountain running exploded in the last decade or so, Bird Ridge began filling its 250-runner field.
Many of Alaska's top mountain racers, who have won on Mount Marathon, also own Bird Ridge victories. Early stalwarts were Nancy Pease and Bill Spencer, who both owned a Mount Marathon record for decades. More recently, multiple-time Mount Marathon champions Cedar Bourgeois, Brad Precosky and Holly Brooks have also won Bird Ridge multiple times.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr