UTMB Running Stones and the Lottery, in Plain Words¶
If you watched Chamonix this week and thought about 2027, the next thing you hit is a rulebook that lives across a dozen pages. It is genuinely hard to follow, and that is nobody's doing. It is what ten years of growth looks like.
One example of how scattered it has become: two official UTMB pages currently list different elite qualifying scores. One gives 690, 675 and 615 for women. The other gives 680, 660 and 600. Both are live, and one of them carries both tables. So if you are chasing a score, check which page your race actually points at.
This post is one page. Everything below is from UTMB's own documents, and where they contradict each other or say nothing at all, it says so instead of guessing.
Short version if that is all you need: you need one Running Stone earned in the last two years, plus a valid UTMB Index in the right distance category. Then you enter a weighted draw where every stone you own is a chance. The 2027 dates are not announced.
What a Running Stone is¶
UTMB's definition: "A Running Stone is an entry into the lottery to participate in the UTMB World Series Finals: the UTMB, CCC and OCC races of the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc."
Read that scope carefully, because it trips people up. Stones are for OCC, CCC and UTMB only. TDS is not part of the lottery and does not need stones at all. More on TDS below, because it is the most overlooked way into race week.
You earn stones by finishing a race in the 20K, 50K, 100K or 100M category at a UTMB World Series Event or Major. How many depends on the distance and on whether the race is a Major, which doubles everything.
| Distance | World Series Event | Major |
|---|---|---|
| 20K | 1 | 2 |
| 50K | 2 | 4 |
| 100K | 3 | 6 |
| 100M | 4 | 8 |
One thing that surprises people: finishing UTMB, CCC or OCC earns you nothing toward the following year. Finishing TDS earns 4. Finishing MCC earns 2, ETC earns 1.
If you look at the TDS race page you will see a "Running Stones 4" badge. That is what the race pays you, not what it costs to enter. It is easy to read backwards.
The two gates you have to clear¶
Both are required, and they are different things.
One stone from the last two years. Stones themselves never expire and they stack up. But to enter the draw at all you need at least one earned within the two years before the lottery closes. This rule arrived with the 2026 edition, so if you last raced the circuit three years ago and have been sitting on a pile of stones, you need one fresh finish. UTMB is explicit that the old ones are not lost: you keep them, you just need a current one to put them back in play.
Stones only reset when you actually get in. In UTMB's words: "Running Stones do not expire until the runner succeeds in the lottery. At this point, the count reduces to zero."
A valid UTMB Index in the right category. This one is widely misunderstood. It is not a score you have to beat. It is a check that you have finished something of roughly the right length recently.
| Race | Index valid in |
|---|---|
| UTMB | 100K or 100M |
| CCC | 50K, 100K or 100M |
| OCC | 20K, 50K, 100K or 100M |
| TDS | 100K or 100M |
Your Index becomes valid by finishing one race in that category in the previous 24 months. And here is the useful part: that does not have to be a World Series race. Thousands of ordinary trail races worldwide count as UTMB Index races.
Which means the two gates come from different places. Your local 100K can make your Index valid. Only a World Series Event or Major gives you a stone. Plenty of runners have a perfectly valid Index and zero stones, and that combination gets you nowhere.
How the draw actually works¶
You will see UTMB say "one Running Stone equals one chance." That is the plain-language version and it is true. The machinery underneath is more specific, and UTMB published it when explaining the travel boost.
Each stone is worth 10 entries. Every entry gets a random number. The highest number you draw is the one that counts. So ten stones means 100 random numbers and you keep your best.
That is why the boost is expressible as a clean percentage. Committing to the low-carbon travel rules changes your multiplier from 10 to 13. Ten stones goes from 100 entries to 130. UTMB's own example: "Runner A effectively has 30% more chances of being selected."
Three things that catch people out:
You cannot hold stones back. "Runners must enter the lottery with ALL the Running Stones they possess on the day of the lottery (except for groups, see below)." No saving them for a better year.
You pick one race, and only one. You cannot enter the UTMB and CCC draws as a hedge, and you cannot hold a TDS entry while you are in the lottery.
Entering as a group means running at the weakest hand. Everyone in the group draws with the lowest entry count anyone in it holds. Three friends with 3, 4 and 2 stones all enter with 2. Note it is entries, not stones, so the boost matters: a runner with 6 stones who took the boost enters at 78, ahead of a runner with 8 stones who did not, at 80. The one with fewer stones is not automatically the one holding everyone back. You win together or you lose together, and that is the price.
If you get in and confirm, all your stones are spent. If you get drawn and then do not confirm in time, you lose half of them.
The carbon contribution and the boost are two different things¶
They arrived together in 2026 and get conflated constantly.
The contribution is mandatory and everyone pays it. You give your home address and travel mode at registration, and the cost of your round trip is calculated at a base of 25 euros per tonne of CO2 equivalent. Proof of address is checked later, and a false declaration cancels your entry with no refund.
Rough round-trip figures UTMB publishes:
| From | Contribution |
|---|---|
| France | €0.50 to €10 |
| Switzerland, Italy, Spain, UK | up to €20 |
| United States and North America | €60 to €115 |
| Asia | €80 to €160 |
| South America | €100 to €150 |
| Africa | €25 to €170 |
| Oceania | €150 and up |
One thing to know if you go checking: UTMB's English carbon page shows these figures truncated, showing "€2" for €20, "€11" for €115 and "€16" for €160. The French, Spanish and Italian versions carry the full figures.
The boost is not bought, it is earned by how you travel. It is optional, and it applies to the UTMB, CCC, OCC and ETC draws. Not TDS, which has no lottery. Not MCC, which is reserved for locals and volunteers.
What you are agreeing to, from outside Europe, is a trip with no short-haul flights under two hours, then train or bus to the valley, and no car once you are there. From inside Europe it is train or bus for at least 70% of the distance, or a single flight if the journey is over twelve hours, and car-free at the end either way. Carpooling does not count except in two narrow cases.
It is checked afterward. You upload your travel documents, and failing that check cancels your registration with no money back, though your stones do come home.
The routes that are not the lottery¶
TDS, first come first served. This is the one most people miss. TDS has no lottery and needs no stones. In 2026 registration opened on 13 January at 11:00 CET, on a first-come, first-served basis, and you needed a valid Index in 100K or 100M. UTMB's own February 2025 press release describes it as "snapped up immediately after the lottery," with bibs "claimed within days of the lottery results." It is 145 kilometres with 9,500 metres of climbing, about as hard as race week gets, but it is a real door and it does not cost you a single stone. The catch is that you cannot hold a TDS place and be in the lottery at the same time, so it is a decision, not a backup.
Solidarity bibs bypass the draw entirely. 285 of them, first come first served. UTMB's own February 2025 press release says that for the 2025 edition all 285 of them sold out in under an hour. The 2026 window was 16 to 22 December 2025. It is 2,200 euros, most of which goes to the partner association, and the entry fee is on top.
Two things people get caught by. It does not exempt you from the stones rule: you still need one stone and a valid Index, and your stones are consumed on registration. And it is not a backup plan for the lottery, because you cannot do both. UTMB is explicit that you cannot take this route while you are in the draw for UTMB, CCC, OCC, MCC or ETC.
Performance routes. Top 3 at a World Series Event, top 10 at a Major, or a qualifying score. Since 2025 the top 5 men and top 5 women at UTMB, CCC and OCC also earn direct entry the following year, provided they picked up at least one stone that same year. Each Major also sends 210 runners straight to the Finals, 70 to each of UTMB, CCC and OCC, split evenly between men and women. That total covers both the top-10 finishers and the age-group places.
MCC, if you are local or you volunteer. Not one of the four big races, but it is race week. 58% of MCC bibs go to local residents, 30% to event volunteers, 10% to partners and 2% to journalists and influencers. No stones or Index needed. It became a lottery in 2026.
Official travel packages contain no entry. The official travel partner sells hotels, transfers, flights and trains. Not bibs. Neither its own page nor its booking site mentions an entry anywhere. If someone is selling you a UTMB place bundled inside a trip, they are not the official partner.
If your race went wrong this year, there is a September 27 deadline¶
This is the most useful thing in this post and almost nobody writes about it, because it sounds like it is for elites. It is not.
Any runner registered for a Mont-Blanc race, PTL and YCC excepted, can apply for a medical priority registration if injury or illness struck after they registered. Non-medical reasons do not qualify, and UTMB names them: personal, logistical, or professional.
The process, and the dates matter:
- Cancel your registration first
- File the form no later than 27 September
- The Medical Commission decides by 15 November, and its decisions are final with no appeal
- Activate the priority before 30 November
What you get is a place in one of the next three editions that skips the lottery. You still pay the entry fee, and you still need a valid Index and a valid PPS. Your original stones are not returned, but you are not asked to earn new ones.
You can step down a distance but not up. A UTMB entry can become CCC, OCC, TDS, ETC or MCC. A CCC entry can become CCC, OCC, ETC or MCC. Stepping down to MCC has its own condition, since MCC is for local runners and volunteers. This is also the one place a TDS entry connects to the priority system at all.
If your 2026 ended in a doctor's office rather than in Chamonix, that deadline is four weeks out.
The 2027 dates: not announced¶
There is nothing published for 2027. No lottery dates, no fees, no rules. The obvious pages do not exist yet. UTMB has not published a 2027 Majors list either, though Val d'Aran (7-11 July 2027) and Ultra-Trail Australia (13-16 May 2027) already show 2027 dates on their own sites.
Do not assume it will look like this year, because the window moved a long way between editions:
| Edition | Pre-registration | Results |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 Dec 2024 to 9 Jan 2025 | 16 Jan 2025 |
| 2026 | 8 Jan to 19 Jan 2026 | 22 Jan 2026 |
That is nearly three weeks of drift in one year. If you plan around a date you extrapolated, you can miss it. Watch UTMB's registration page from about the start of December.
The qualifying window is not a fixed date either. The rule is rolling: at least one stone from the two years before the lottery closes, and the closing date has not been set.
Where you can still earn a stone in 2026¶
The season runs to mid-December. Two races left pay double, because they are Majors:
| Dates | Race | Where | Best case |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8-11 Oct | HOKA Kodiak Ultra Marathons | Big Bear Lake, California | 8 stones (100M, Major) |
| 27 Nov-6 Dec | HOKA Chiang Mai Thailand | Thailand | 8 stones (100M, Major) |
There are around twenty more events left in the season. Ones with a 100K or 100M category include Wildstrubel (10-13 Sep, Switzerland), Kaçkar (11-13 Sep, Türkiye), Malaysia (11-13 Sep), Grindstone (17-20 Sep, Virginia), Paraty (17-20 Sep, Brazil), Julian Alps (18-20 Sep, Slovenia), Nice Côte d'Azur (24-27 Sep), Chihuahua (1-3 Oct, Mexico), TransJeju (2-4 Oct, South Korea), Mount Yun (16-18 Oct, China), Puglia (23-25 Oct, Italy), Kullamannen (30-31 Oct, Sweden), Mallorca (30 Oct-1 Nov, Spain), Shudao (6-8 Nov, China), TransLantau (13-15 Nov, Hong Kong), Patagonia Bariloche (18-22 Nov, Argentina), Kosciuszko (26-28 Nov, Australia) and Oman (10-12 Dec).
If you are in North America and want stones without a long flight, Kodiak is the one that pays eight. Snowbasin and Pacific Trails California only offer 20K and 50K, so they cap at two.
Some events are already sold out or closed, so check before you plan a season around one.
Common questions¶
Q: How many Running Stones do I need for UTMB?¶
One, earned in the last two years, plus a valid UTMB Index in the 100K or 100M category. There is no minimum beyond that. More stones do not qualify you harder, they give you more chances in the draw.
Q: Do Running Stones expire?¶
No. They accumulate and never expire on their own, and they only reset to zero when you get into a Final. But you need at least one from the past two years to enter the lottery, so an old pile alone will not get you in.
Q: What are my actual odds in the UTMB lottery?¶
Nobody outside UTMB seems to know. We could not find an acceptance rate or applicant count published by UTMB for any edition. You will see figures quoted around the internet; we could not trace any of them back to an official source, so treat them as guesses.
Q: Is the UTMB Index a score I have to beat?¶
Not for ordinary registration. It is a validity check that you finished a race of roughly the right distance in the last 24 months. The published score thresholds are for elite direct entry, which is a separate route.
Q: Do I have to use all my Running Stones?¶
Yes. You enter with every stone you hold on the day of the draw. You cannot save some for next year.
Q: How do I get into TDS?¶
First come, first served when registration opens, with a valid Index in 100K or 100M. No stones needed and none spent. It goes within days of the lottery results, and you cannot hold a TDS place while you are also in the lottery.
Q: When does UTMB 2027 registration open?¶
Not announced as of the end of August 2026. For reference, 2026 pre-registration ran 8 to 19 January with results on 22 January, and 2025 ran 19 December to 9 January with results on 16 January. Start watching in early December.
Q: Does paying the carbon contribution improve my odds?¶
No. The contribution is mandatory for everyone. The 30% boost is separate and is earned by committing to low-carbon travel, then proving it afterward.
Takeaways¶
- Two gates: one Running Stone from the last two years, and a valid UTMB Index in the right distance category. They come from different kinds of races.
- Stones are worth 10 draw entries each, and the low-carbon travel commitment makes it 13. Your best random number wins.
- TDS needs no stones and is first come, first served. It is the most overlooked door into race week.
- If injury ended your 2026 after you registered, the medical priority deadline is 27 September and it skips the lottery.
- Nothing is announced for 2027, and the dates moved three weeks last year, so do not extrapolate.
Read next: the UTMB 2026 results and what happened, and what course-specific training is actually worth.
Keep track of what you have already done¶
NavRun holds your race history and the races you are aiming at, in one place, working from the running you have already logged.
Everything here comes from UTMB's own pages: the sports system, the Mont-Blanc registration conditions, the carbon contribution page, the medical priority policy and the World Series calendar. Sections describing the closed 2026 registration period are quoted from the archived January 2026 version of the official conditions page. Rules change every year, so check the current conditions before you act on any of this.