FINAL:52 of these participants have entered enough distance to qualify for a challenge woodallion to date.
over 1,360 distance entries have been made by our 62 challenge participants to date. Over 9,600 kilometers have been walked/hiked/run AND REPORTED by our challengers!
If you end the month of November LOWER than the 100k cutoff (aka under the 100k mark) unfortunately you will NOT qualify for a 100k challenge finisher woodallion 🙁 So…. get moving and get those K’s reported ASAP! We know you’ve done them!
The CUTOFF FOR SUBMISSIONS is Wednesday 12/4. The table below shows what will be sent to the custom laser engraving company on 12/5 (including distances and badges earned!).
We need to get our custom woodallion engraver (Raven Tree Works) the data to print the name and distance customized woodallions — plus the custom badges — so we can get the woodallions to the 100k challenge finishers in a timely manner.
Anyone registered who reaches 100k or higher walking, hiking, or running in November gets a custom Raven Challenge Woodallion suitable for display — and even suitable to hang on holiday decorations!
FINAL TALLY will be made 12/4/24 at midnight with the badge claims and distances you and other challenge participants have reported.
If you need the link to claim your badges, click here. If you have new badges to claim, you can submit the form as many times as needed and we will “super score” your badge claims (i.e. once you claim a badge you don’t need to claim it again on a subsequent form submission — but it doesn’t hurt to claim it again if you can’t remember!).
Raven November 100k Challenge 2024 Distance and Badge Claims
Last Sunday was a bit chilly – there was frost on the ground at 6am as your volunteers arrived for the race day setup. It quickly warmed up as the sun got higher in the sky.
The drought conditions and red flag fire warning prevented us from having a fire pit this year unfortunately. But the s’mores fixings were available raw for anyone who wanted to grab a chocolate bar, graham cracker, or marshmallow post race!
Congratulations to the 286 runners who finished the race on Sunday! The race day was backed by a team of around 40 race volunteers including registration and t-shirt table help, kitchen/food setup, course checkers, timing volunteers, photographers, parking crew, the utility team, and more.
We also could not have put on the race without the help of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation staff — led by Taro Ietaka and helped by Mike Vogt and Mario Rodriguez (who also ran in the race!) plus others at the Rez. We also want to thank the County of Westchester Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation for hosting us at the park. The Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps came to the race to be on standby to help in case of injury.
LVAC Standby Crew at the Raven Rocks Run for the 9th year!
Friends of Trailside Membership is at any dollar level. Give what you can. The most popular level is the $100 “Wood Turtle” level which gets the member a year long parking pass for the Rez. We raised over $6,000 for the friends group through the membership program on the registration website this year. Thank you Raven Runners, Hikers, and Walkers!
Musical Guests
We also featured the return of the Pell Hill band of Casey Stanford (Guitar) and Layne Krulik (Drums) rocking mile 5.5 at Pell Hill in the meadow next to the “Town Line Tree” for the second year. They were joined this year by vocalist Ellie Tsiropanas.
Runners heard Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and many other rockin’ tunes as they headed (mostly) downhill towards the finish around 3/4 mile away. The band members currently attend John Jay Middle School. Our thanks to them for braving the cold morning — and thanks to their roadies for getting them there! We hope they will come back for another return engagement!
The Pell Hill Band: Casey Stanford (Guitar), Layne Krulik (Drums), Ellie Tsiropanas (Vocals).(Photo by Dean Leggiero)The Pell Hill Band in action – video by Dean Leggiero
Cobweb Crew
The Cobweb Crew pre-ran the 10k course – and some of these folks also were sweeps (photo by Lee Willett).
The Cobweb Crew is a group of runners that go out well before the race and run the course to check that the markings are still there and everything is set for the race. We are confident in our trail course setting ability, but the whims of four legged (and two legged) creatures can lead to unplanned new paths. We rely on the cobweb crew for this vital service — which helps to keep all raven runners and hikers on course.
The Cobweb Crew is comprised of some of the SundayRuns.org crew — trail runners who come out for group runs every Sunday morning at 8am (and other days and times!) to run local (and occasionally more distant) trails.
Race Highlights
The race had one repeat winner this year and one new winner.
Katie Claiborne (57:17) won for the first time and Eamonn Sullivan (43:24) won for the third time. Both runners set new Raven Rocks course records due to the new slightly longer course due to starting in the grass field rather than the meadow triangle. Though Eamonn’s time was a record even for the standard shorter course.
Katie Claiborne at Michigan Rd 1 mile mark (photo by Rob Cummings)Eamonn Sullivan at Finish line (photo by Rob Cummings)
The youngest finishers were a pair of 9-year olds running the race for the SECOND time: Christian Piddington and Wyatt Nable.
Pell Hill – Mile 5.5. Alexander Grano helped by friends Kimberly and Kevin Condon. This was Alexander’s first trail race (photo by Dean Leggiero).
All in all a very fun and energetic Sunday. Thank you to all who came, ran, helped, and watched. A great day all around!
We have a group of volunteer photographers(thank you Carol, Orion, Mark, Dean, Bill, and Rob) who came out to the race to help document the event. Their 2024 photos are available on our permanent gallery website here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2024
Our photographers do a great job! Today Carol, Mark, Dean, Bill, Orion, and Rob took photos and video — plus thanks to all of the runners who will be submitting 2024 race day photos – thank you in advance!(<–hint: upload yours to this album!)
There is Last Minute Online Registration available until this evening if you are deciding late to run – sign up now and make tomorrow morning easier for yourself!
THERE WILL BE SAME DAY REGISTRATION AT THE PARK TOMORROW! If you haven’t signed up yet but want to run – come early. Day of race registration opens at 7:30am.
Note: if you are running tomorrow and want to have an extra layer for the start but then want to peel it off (after that first big hill when you are warmed up!), we will have volunteers at Michigan Road (1 mile into the course, up the first big hill) who can collect your outer layers in a bin and will return them to the finish line area near the tent and fire put for you to pick up after you finish.
The course is the same as 2023 — barring any downed trees overnight! It is already “lightly marked” and the full and final marking will take place today.
There is a water stop at the 4 mile mark at the top of the Fire Tower climb (the highest spot on the course).
BADGES – Submit your badge achievements/photos/other claims here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/raven-100k-challenge-badge-submission-form/ — you should use this form more than once to update us. If you submit more than once we will “superscore” to keep track of ALL of your badge achievements.
