Far from the mud and mayhem of the Flint Hills of Kansas, the first round of the 2024 Unbound Gravel Race kicks off today.

Drawings will be held from January 5 (12:00 CET) through January 20 (23:59 CET) for the 200-mile, 100-mile, 50-mile, and 25-mile categories.

On January 25, five days after the lottery closes, a random selection of participants will be announced by Life Time, which owns and operates this high-demand gravel endurance event. This year's Garmin Unbound Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear will be held May 31-June 1 in Emporia, Kansas.

Now in its third year, the Unbound Gravel 200 is the second race in the Lifetime Grand Prix off-road racing series. While riders in the series do not have to enter a raffle, many of the 4,000 riders selected to win a bib number will have the opportunity to ride the same roads with the best gravel pros.

American Keegan Swenson won his second Grand Prix title at the men's Unbound 200 in Emporia this past June, winning the seven-man sprint competition. In the women's elite field, Germany's Caroline Schiff won solo, with defending champion Sofia Gomez Villafane in second place. Villafane, however, took the Grand Prix points and the women's series title.

Unbound Gravel, now in its 18th year, has become a world-class gravel race on the calendar.

The route for all distances has yet to be detailed, but the direction will be reversed from last year, returning to a more northerly circuit. Like last year, the elite field for the 200-mile contest will depart early, with the pro men starting at 5:50 a.m. local time and the pro women two minutes later. The main field for the unbound 200 will take the course eight minutes after the pro women, with the 100-mile riders getting a mass start at 7:00 a.m., followed two hours later by a combined mass start for the two shorter distances.

The registration process to select a discipline is free, but credit card information collected will not be charged until individuals are accepted, and the price range is set at $55 for the 25-mile to $295 for the unbound 200. The junior event will move to 50 and 100 miles in 2024; the XL is 350 miles long and starts May 31, with the drawing held in early December.

The drama of the 2022 Kansas event, with its controversy over equipment and unpredictable weather affecting the Lifetime Grand Prix competitors, was captured in a 31-minute video by the event organizers, Call of a Life Time. Season two of this video series, which will highlight the torrential rains, copious amounts of mud, and chaos of the 200-mile event, will be released by Lifetime on YouTube on January 26.