Desert Solstice Track Invitational
2026 Desert Solstice Track Invitational
24 Hour / 100 Mile
Registration open
Registration currently open via UltraSignup ('24hrs Registration $325.00 ... NO CHARGE until you confirm'), closing Mon, Dec 14, 2026 @ 11:59 PM MT.
Race dateDecember 19-20, 2026
Duration2 days
Start8:00am
Whenin 64 days
First held2010
Who's going to Desert Solstice Track Invitational?
Free. You can start with nothing.
Free, and always will be. NavRun makes money from race-day planning for runners who want it, never from this.
Ultras change constantly, sometimes the morning of. Always confirm with the race director and the official website before you rely on anything here.
Distance
24 Hour / 100 Mile
Climb
0 ft
Descent
0 ft
High point
1,123 ft
Time limit
24:00:00
Aid stations
3
Started
not checked yet
Finished
not checked yet
Finish rate
not checked yet
The course
Where it goes
fixed time · 3 aid stations
A certified 400-meter all-weather track at Camelback High School in Phoenix, run for 24 continuous hours (8:00 a.m. Saturday to 8:00 a.m. Sunday). Direction of travel reverses every four hours, beginning counter-clockwise. All entrants are registered for the 24-hour event; those who reach 100 miles also receive a separate 100-mile split time for record purposes. Portable restrooms are available on the course.
Surface is a certified synthetic all-weather 400m track, not a road. Shoes must meet World Athletics 'Road' category rules: 40mm max sole stack height, one carbon (or similarly rigid) plate maximum; shoes in a developmental state are not allowed. Headphones are allowed only for music via an MP3 player when attempting a record; a phone may be used for music only in airplane mode, with no communication, or a record may be ruled null (USATF Rule 144.3b). Average December highs in Phoenix run about 67F by day and 43F at night; record extremes for the date are upper 70s (high) and upper 20s (low). Light but steady rain occurred during the 2011 and 2012 editions; crew tents are provided in case of rain.
The race
What this one is
An elite, invitation-and-qualification-only track ultrarunning meet on a certified 400-meter all-weather track, run as simultaneous 24-hour (fixed-time) and 100-mile (fixed-distance split within it) events. Built primarily as a record-setting venue and a qualifier for the USA 24 Hour national team, rather than as an open participation race.
First run in 2010 at Nardini Manor in Buckeye, AZ (per Aravaipa's own combined 2008-2010 results archive: 'Desert Solstice, December 18-19, 2010, Nardini Manor – Buckeye, AZ'). Now held on the certified 400-meter track at Camelback High School in Phoenix, AZ; the same address is already the venue in the 2025 UltraSignup listing, so the venue is not new for 2026. Full year-by-year venue history was not traced.
Getting in
Getting in
Entry, lottery and what the race asks of you before race day.
- Lottery
-
No
aravaiparunning.com
- Lottery opens
-
not checked yet
- Lottery draw
-
not checked yet
- Field cap
-
25
aravaiparunning.com
- Registration
-
UltraSignup
aravaiparunning.com
- Qualifying
-
Invitation/qualification only, applied for via UltraSignup. A runner must meet one of four graded standards at one of four comparable distances (24 Hours in miles; 100 Miles, 100K or 50 Miles in hours:minutes): Men's A - 145 mi / 14:15 / 7:35 / 5:50; Men's B - 134 mi / 15:40 / 8:20 / 6:25; Women's A - 130 mi / 15:50 / 8:25 / 6:30; Women's B - 120 mi / 17:25 / 9:15 / 7:05. Runners meeting the 'A' Standard may gain entry at any point until the field fills; 'B' Standard runners are considered case-by-case for auto-entry or a wait-list, awarded in performance order about one week after the USATF 24 Hour National Championship. Runners may request acceptance at other race lengths (e.g. 100K, 12 Hour) for comparable performances, on a case-by-case basis. The $325 entry fee applies to every accepted runner regardless of which standard they met. NOTE: the source page also states a qualifying-marks freshness window ('no older than December 2022') inside a sentence that names the 2025 race by name -- that sentence reads as stale copy left over from the 2025 edition and was deliberately NOT carried into this field as a 2026 fact;.
ultrasignup.com
- Minimum age
-
not checked yet
- Transfers
-
No
aravaiparunning.com
- Deferrals
-
No
aravaiparunning.com
Crew access, pacers and drop bags
The rules that shape your day
Anything marked "not checked yet" is a gap in what we hold, never a no from the race.
- Crew allowed
-
Yes
aravaiparunning.com
- Vehicles per runner
-
not checked yet
- Pacers
-
No
aravaiparunning.com
- Muling
-
not checked yet
- Drop bags
-
not checked yet
- Cupless
-
not checked yet
- Course marking
-
not checked yet
- Night running
-
Yes
aravaiparunning.com
- Dogs
-
not checked yet
- Headphones
-
Allowed
aravaiparunning.com
- Crew rules
-
Family and friends may spectate, cheer and participate from a specified crew/personal-space area alongside the course, allowing easy, quick access to their runner every lap. Runners are assigned a shared 10x10 canopy in pairs of two, with two tables and chairs to share (one for hydration, one for nutrition/gear); ample space behind the tables is available for a crew's own tables, chairs, blankets or tents.
aravaiparunning.com
- Pacer rules
-
CONFLICT ON THE OFFICIAL PAGE, not resolved. The 'Crew & Pacer Info' section states: 'Pacers are not permitted at Desert Solstice.' The separate 'Rules' section on the same page states: 'this rule was updated in 2024 to allow pacing at Desert Solstice, regardless of the lap for each registered athlete in the race,' citing general USATF Rule 144.4K.
aravaiparunning.com
- Drop bag rules
-
not checked yet
- Cutoff philosophy
-
There are no intermediate cutoffs. The only limit is the 24-hour race clock itself, 8:00 a.m. Saturday to 8:00 a.m. Sunday. For timed events there is no DNF; results show the furthest distance reached by the clock, with a separate 100-mile split recorded for runners who reach that distance.
aravaiparunning.com
Aid stations
Every stop, and what you get there
● yes ○ no ? nobody has checked – does not apply to this race
| Mile |
Station |
Cutoff |
Crew access |
Bag |
Pacer |
Med |
To next |
| ? |
Start/Finish Timing Mat
|
? |
● |
? |
? |
? |
? |
| ? |
200-Meter Timing Point (back straight)
|
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
| ? |
Main Aid Station / Athlete Canopy Area
|
? |
● |
? |
○ |
? |
? |
Same race, other lines
Other distances and other years
What it looks like out there
Somebody has been out there with a camera
the tables say the climb is long. these say what long feels like.
5 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account.
More of them: every race we hold, on film.
Add to this page
What you know
every one of these is read by a person before it changes anything
Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know.
Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.
See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit.
This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.
Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send it over.
Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.
Have the GPX? Send us the link.
We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.
Where this came from.
Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 95 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
44% of what we track for a course is filled in. The rest says "not checked yet" rather than guessing.
Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.
Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.
No account, and nothing to cancel.
What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.
I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.
