Hwy 190, Furnace Creek CA
Monday, July 27th, 2026
“The World’s Toughest Foot Race”
Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley* to Mt. Whitney, CA, the Badwater® 135 is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet, as well as the 135-Mile World Championship. The start line is at Badwater Basin, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at Whitney Portal at 8,300’ (2530m), which is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. The Badwater 135 course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 14,600’ (4450m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 6,100’ (1859m) of cumulative descent. Competitors travel through places or landmarks with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil’s Cornfield, Devil’s Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Panamint Springs, Darwin, Keeler, Lone Pine, Alabama Hills, and the Sierra Nevada.
*The ancient and still current Native American name for “Death Valley” is Tüpippüh. Learn more here and here.
AdventureCORPS® will host the 49th anniversary of “the world’s toughest foot race” on Monday-Wednesday, July 27-29, 2026.
A true "challenge of the champions," the Badwater 135 pits up to 100 of the world’s toughest athletes against one another and the elements. The time limit is forty-eight hours and the finisher's award is the coveted Badwater belt buckle, the Holy Grail of endurance sports.
APPLYING:
The Badwater 135 is, and always has been, an invitational race. Applicants will be considered purely upon their race application and its specific written merits.
The application submission period begins on January 2 at 1000am PST and ends on January 20 at 500pm PST. The race field will be announced February 1 live on FB.
It is anticipated that this year's race field will include women and men from twenty or more countries and twenty or more American states, both veterans and rookies. (Approximately 2/3 rookies and 1/3 veterans will be invited.)
If you are a veteran of this event (or some, but not all, other AdventureCORPS events), our online results database will have assigned you your permanent AdventureCORPS ID #. Please find and input your official AdventureCORPS History via this link: http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualHistory.php. Please note that it is extremely important that the link to your AdventureCORPS history be input accurately (if one exists for you, otherwise input 0 or NA).
You will also need the link to your UltraSignUp.com personal history and to your d-u-v.org history, so please find them in advance of completing your application.
Before completing this application, please study the Race Application and Information page. Please provide extensive answers to all questions. Incomplete race applications will be rejected.
Note: Do not begin this application until you are ready to submit all of the information QUICKLY.
We recommend you study the questions, then go elsewhere to prepare all of the information. Then return and open a NEW version of the application page to submit your information by copying and pasting from elsewhere.
If you leave the application page open for too long, it may "time out" and you will lose everything when you click Submit at the end. Be careful!
