Chequamegon is the elder statesman of American off-road racing — first run in 1983 with 27 riders and Gary Crandall (aka 'The Fatman') among them, well before 'gravel' or even 'mountain bike racing' were established categories. The lottery system that once governed entry dates back to 1999, when demand for the 40-mile race first outstripped what the course and town of Cable could handle; riders in that era learned to check whether their entry check had cleared as their real notification of acceptance, well before confirmation emails existed.
Now sitting as a Life Time Grand Prix stop, Chequamegon draws elite talent chasing Grand Prix points onto a course whose main hazards are entirely different from Unbound's heat or Leadville's altitude — instead it's fast-rolling forest roads (gravel plus grass, which locals call 'Grassle') and ski trail through Wisconsin's Northwoods, with a finish-line festival at the Derksen Family Great Hall that's as much a part of the weekend's identity as the race itself.
The amateur race goes off earlier in the morning, which sets up a rowdy finish-line atmosphere late in the day that only northern Wisconsin can really claim.
The Chequamegon 40 is the race the whole festival is named for and built around — a point-to-point 40-mile route from downtown Hayward to the Great Hall in Cable across the American Birkebeiner ski trail, forest roads, and snowmobile routes. The Short & Fat is a genuine companion event (not a 'lite' version marketed down), run concurrently over a compressed 16-mile course, capped at 900 riders.
The Chequamegon 40 moved from a lottery to general registration a few years back; it typically opens the first week of January.