Wednesday 31st October 2012

2013 Race

Entries for 2013 are now open for the month of November 2012.

West Highland Way Race - Process for allocating places

The race's objective is to establish a fair and transparent process for the allocation of places, particularly in the event that the race is over-subscribed.

Entry to the race will be determined in accordance with the process outlined below. Places are not allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis.

The race entry fee is £80 for scottishathletics members and £82 for all others.

A refund of £55 will be made to any entrant who gives notice of their withdrawal from the race on or before 31 May 2013.

No refund will be made to any entrant who gives notice of withdrawal after 31 May 2013.

Detailed Entry Process
The race has an entry limit of 200 runners. 250 entries will be accepted as past experience has shown there will be at least 50 withdrawals prior to race day.

All entries must be submitted by completing all sections of the standard electronic format on the dedicated race entry site, and must include appropriate credit or debit card details to allow payment of the race entry fee to be taken.

Payment will only be taken if the entry is successful.

Entries will remain open for a period of one month, from 1 November to 30 November 2012. At the end of the open period all entries will be considered, using the criteria set out below.

Allocation of race places
The following entrants will be granted automatic entry, at any time prior to the start of the race:

• Bobby Shields and Duncan Watson, the 2 founders;
• Terry Conway and Lucy Colquhoun, the male and female current record holders.

A valid entry form must be received on or before the closing date for all others who wish to take part.
 

Assuming such a form has been received, places will be granted to those in the following categories, with the proviso that each entrant must be able to demonstrate an adequate level of fitness for an event of this nature and must be able to demonstrate that they have a reasonable prospect of completing the race. Evidence of this may be requested.
 

The categories are:

• Entrants who have completed 5 or more previous West Highland Way races;
• All previous winners of the race, male and female;
• Any entrant who, in the opinion of the race committee, has made or is expected to make a significant contribution to the overall success of the race.

All remaining entries will then be reviewed, with those who are not considered to have adequate relevant experience rejected. The race does not set down strict qualifying criteria in assessing whether an entrant has ‘adequate relevant experience’, but will consider the experience of each entrant on a case by case basis.

As a general rule, however, entrants are expected to have completed an off-road ultra marathon of at least 65k in the previous 3 years. Full details of previous experience along with the relevant race dates need to be provided at time of entry, as these details will be checked. Further guidance on what may be considered as ‘adequate relevant experience’ is given below.
 

If sufficient places are available, all fully qualified entrants will be granted a place in the race.
 

If there are too many fully qualified entrants for the number of places available, a ballot will take place to allocate the balance of starting places. The Race Director will try to allocate up to 25% of the available places to those who have not started the race before.
 

By way of guidance (and using other Scottish ultra marathons as examples), completion of the following races in 2010, 2011 or 2012 would generally be considered to meet the criteria of ‘adequate relevant experience’:

Highland Fling
Devil O’ The Highlands
Cateran Trail
Glenmore 12
Glenmore 24

There are of course many other races that would meet the ‘adequate relevant experience’ criteria; these are given as examples only.

It should be noted that completion of the races below would not normally be considered ‘adequate relevant experience’, either because they are not considered long enough or the terrain is not considered to be similar to the West Highland Way:

D33
Speyside Way
Clyde Stride
River Ayr Way
Glasgow to Edinburgh
Comrades

Ironman
Any road marathon
 

All decisions of the Race Director regarding adequate relevant experience, and in respect of the allocation of places, are final.

Late entries

No reserve list will be maintained. However if places become available the Race Director will consider late applications from suitably qualified entrants.