Best Ultras for Newbies

Recently on the ultra list (not so recently, but I've been meaning to post this for a while now!) Christie Aschwanden, a freelance writer posted a poll question to the Dartmouth Ultra List about which ultra race was the best for newbies. I believe she's going to write an article for Runner's World with the results. I was pleasantly surprised by the results, and they are as follows:

From: Christie Aschwanden
Date: October 24, 2007 9:13:00 AM CDT
To: ULTRA@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
Subject: List: best ultras for newbies

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I received something like 115 votes, and most were great. (Sorry, I won't be recommending the Barkley for newbies.)

I've taken a look at each and every one of the races suggested, and since I won't have space in my Runner's World piece to list them all, I've pasted my quick and dirty tabulation of the votes below. Since I am not putting together a definitive list (my list will be a mix of different types and locations), I didn't take the time that would be required to clean up this list to make sure there aren't errors (there may be one or two races that are listed twice, under different names...) Also, some of these votes are for 100s, but my list will only include those that offer distances of 100km or less.

So here's the list. The number in front of the name is the number of votes it received (i.e McNaughton got 5 votes). Races without a number got one vote.

5 McNaughton 50-100-150 in Pekin, IL
4 Ice Age 50 Mile and Lite Ice 50K, Whitewater, Wisconsin
4 Way Too Cool 50K - CA
3 FANS, Minneapolis, MN, 12 or 24 hours, Laps around Lake Nokomis
3 Chicago Lakefront 50/50
3 Heartland 100, flint hills of Kansas
3 Holiday Lake 50K - VA
3 Leanhorse 50K-50mile-100 mile
3 Rocky Raccoon 50k TX
3 Strolling Jim 40 mile
3 Sunmart, 50 mile/50k in Huntsville, TX
2 American River 50 2 Dick Collins Firetrails 50
2 Helen Klein 50M, Sacramento, CA
2 Howl at the Moon, Danville, Illinois, 8 hour
2 JFK 50 mile in Md
2 Le Grizz 50 mile, Hungry Horse Reservoir in Montana
2 McDonald Forest, 50k Oregon
2 McKenzie River 50k
2 Mississippi 50, Laurel, MS
2 Pineland Farms 50K in New Glouchester, ME
2 Mt. Hood PCT, nr Government Camp, OR (late July) 50 M
2 OTHTC High Desert 50k/30k. Held each December in Ridgecrest, Ca.
2 San Juan Solstice 50

The rest of the responses only got one vote.