Everything You Need to Know about the Javelina Jundred

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Dust off your costume and grab your headlamp, it’s time for everyone’s favorite spooky sugar consumption event of October! That is, the Javelina Jundred, obviously.

Somehow, by the grace of unbridled enthusiasm and amnesia for pain and suffering, the 2024 trail running season is still going. Are there even race “seasons” anymore, anyway? That is an entirely different topic worthy of its own discussion, but not for now. Today we’re focused on the Burning Man event of trail running—which also happens to be the final Golden Ticket race into the 2025 Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

As always, elites scorned at Western States this year and wide-eyed with the promise of earning an entry into Western States next year are descending upon McDowell Mountain State Park just northeast of Phoenix, Arizona, on October 26-27 for Aravaipa Running’s marquee event of the year. There, they will run five relatively flat loops through dry washbeds, past saguaro cacti, and around granite boulders—hopefully in costume—for a total of 100-miles.

RELATED: Javelina Jundred 2024 Live Tracking

In addition to speedsters vying for a top-two placement in the men’s and women’s races, there will be hordes of people in costume, only given away by their dusty trail running shoes, as they race the 100-miler themselves, or volunteer, spectate, and crew. There’s also a 100K, a Jalloween costume contest, group runs, a Thursday evening happy hour, a Friday morning scavenger hunt, a Friday night kid’s run, a family movie event,  a Saturday morning yoga session, a Saturday evening fashion show, and Saturday’s 31K Jackass Night Trail Run.

It’s fast, it’s freaky, and it’s jot. In other words, it’s a trail running race. Here’s what you need to know before the 100-miler starts at 6 A.M. on Saturday.

The Course

The Javelina Jundred 100-miler features a five-loop course over rolling terrain: runners complete one 22.3-mile loop followed by four identical 19.45-mile loops for a total of 100.1 miles and 6,243 feet of climbing and descending. The bobbing singletrack through the Sonoran desert varies from hard-packed granite, to rocks and sand, with some old Jeep road thrown in for good measure. There are four aid stations per loop, meaning the longest runners go without the opportunity to resupply is 6.6 miles.

The 100K follows the same first three loops as the 100-miler for a total of 62 miles and just under 4,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. And the Jackass 31K features one of the 19.45-mile loops used in the longer races for a grand total of 1,152 feet of up and down.

Top Golden Ticket Men Contenders

Among the 827 entrants in the Javelina 100-miler, a sizable chunk will be out to snag a coveted golden ticket into the 2025 Western States 100. There are four tickets up for grabs: two for the top men’s finishers, and two for the top women. If first or second place decline their ticket, it rolls down to third, then fourth, and then fifth before being rendered void.

Among those in the hunt is the Boulder, Colorado, trio of Justin Grunewald, David Roche, and Matt Daniels, who have all contended for golden tickets in the past. Grunewald oh-so narrowly missed out twice last year, taking third at the highly competitive Canyons 100K that April and third again at the Grindstone 100K that September. Since then he’s quietly picked up two wins at the Tillamook Burn 50K in May and the Never Summer 100K in July and seems raring to go.

Similarly, after a decade-plus of success over shorter distances, Roche took fifth in his 100K debut last year at Canyons before dropping out of Grindstone that fall. But he nailed his 100-mile debut this August at the Leadville 100, where he won and broke Matt Carpenter’s 2005 course record. He’s attempting a quick rebound to ride that wave on the golden ticket circuit.

Daniels won the Black Canyons 100K in 2019 to earn a golden ticket, which he used that summer to great success with fourth at his Western States debut. He’s struggled over longer distances since, DNFing from States in the Covid-delayed race two years later and dropping out of Javelina in both 2022 and 2023. Can the third time be the charm?

There’s also a trio of 2024 Western States runners who failed to finish in the top 10 and, hence, failed to earn an automatic entry into the 2025 race. Those unlucky but talented runners include Blake Slattengren of Seattle, who finished a soul-crushing 11th at States this year. We can only imagine he’s out for blood. Similarly, Caleb Bowen of West Virginia will also toe the line after earning a golden ticket at Grindstone last year but finishing a disappointing 23rd at the big dance. After taking 15 at States this year, Californian Cole Watson is in the same boat.

Don’t sleep on 2024 Jackpot Ultra 100-Miler winner Rajpaul Pannu, who ran under 12 hours (11:58:01) on the paved loop course in February. Same goes with Jeff Mogavero, who showcased his leg speed this summer with second at the Broken Arrow 46K. And we won’t be surprised if up-and-comers like Zachary Garner and former golden ticket winners who have taken a step back, like Stephen Kersh, surprise with a big performance.

Top Golden Ticket Women Contenders

The women’s race also boasts a mix of former golden ticket winners eager to relive the rush, and up-and-comers on a mission to break into the scene. Leading the charge in the former camp is Riley Brady, a nonbinary runner from Boulder, Colorado, who’s name is becoming synonymous with this race. Brady took second here in 2022 to earn a ticket and third last year to just miss out on one. We can confirm first hand Brady is fit and ready to roll—if they can keep recurring stomach issues at bay that have plagued them for the past couple years over longer ultras, including at this race last year.

Lauren Puretz, Anna Louden, and Becca Windell all ran their way into States this year but came up short in Auburn. They will be trying to secure a spot back into the big dance a bit earlier in the golden ticket cycle this time around. Puretz, a gynecologist and mom of two in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has ample experience on this course, having raced it twice with fourth place and eighth place finishes. But for runner’s new to Javelina, do not despair, you have five loops to get acquainted with the trail. That’s something Louden won’t have to worry about. The San Francisco, California, runner—who was 11th at States this year—won the Javelina 100K last year. Windell, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, has been quiet on the racing scene since taking 16th at States. Will her freshness be an advantage?

They’ll face more stiff competition from Hannah Allgood (who won the Eiger 100K this July), Erin Clark (2021 golden ticket winner at the Bandera 100K), and Ashley Paulson, a prolific racer who’s no stranger to the heat: she won and set the course record at the 2023 Badwater 135-miler.

And wait, there’s more! Other contenders include, and are certainly not limited to, relative newcomer Porter Burgess, who won the Pinhoti 100-miler last fall; and old-timers Nicole Bitter (she won this race in 2020 and took third in 2022) and Corinne Malcom, who’s finished as high as ninth at Western States in 2018.

Course Records

Men: Jon Rea—12:43:10 (2023)

Women: Camille Herron—14:03:23 (2021)

How to Watch

The 2024 Javelina Jundred will be live streamed via the Mountain Outpost Youtube Channel, the production company spearheaded by Aravaipa founder Jamil Coury who’s been instrumental in pushing both trail racing and trail race live coverage forward. The 30 hours of coverage begins at 5:30 A.M. MST on Saturday morning and continues through Sunday morning.