Month: October 2025

Essential Information for the Raven Rocks Run on November 9

To: Everyone who is registered for (or may be thinking of registering for) the 2025 Raven Rocks Run:

Raven 2025 Shirt Art

The TENTH annual Raven Rocks Run is set to go at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation on Sunday, November 9th, 2025.

Register

(The Raven 100k November Challenge is set to start 11/1! More info. You can sign up for the challenge through Nov 15, 2025!)

Race director Rob Cummings, his lovely wife Ciorsdan along with the dedicated raven volunteers have been working hard to set up this year’s event.

Registration link is here if you have any more folks to sign up (or you want to pass this on to a friend!): https://runsignup.com/RavenRocks

Not sure if you registered or want to check if a friend is registered? Click here:
https://runsignup.com/Race/RegistrationLookup/?raceId=25402

Here are some tips that will help you on race morning:

1.) ARRIVE EARLY! The race is set to start at 9am. Bib pickup (and shirt pickup if ordered) begins at 7:15am on race morning. Look for the tent in the Meadow Parking lot. Please plan to arrive at the park by 8:15am — or even earlier if you can swing it.

The regular $10 park entry fee is incorporated in part of the Raven Rocks entry fee so there is no need to stop and pay at the entry booth. Our volunteers will direct you on parking as you arrive. 

If the main meadow lot should fill up, we may need to use our backup lot near the entrance to the park. This would mean about 1/4 mile walk for runners arriving late. Another good reason to be early!

2.) DRIVE SLOWLY in the Park! Pay close attention to the volunteers who are directing the parking. Car pool if you can – this helps the environment – and it makes the race more fun! For a helpful overview of the race location (parking, start, bib pickup), check the logistics page of the website here.

3.) LISTEN ATTENTIVELY TO PRE-RACE ANNOUNCEMENTS! Your Race Director will have important information about the course and safety. You will be instructed about potential hazards on the course and current course conditions. 

4.) LISTEN FOR THE START! Following the instructions, we will start the runners.

5.) STAY ON COURSE IF YOU CAN’T CONTINUE! There will be a number of “sweeps” running the course following the slower runners. If for any reason you can’t continue, wait for them to get to you to assess your needs. The park is over 4,300 acres so don’t leave the course unless you know exactly where you are going.

6.) SAME DAY REGISTRATION – If we hit the cap before next weekend, we will not have this available. Online registration is open! 😉 If you or a friend are looking to run the race, sign up ASAP before we reach the cap! 

7.) RESULTS: Results with time and place will be available soon after the finish at the registration area and online later in the afternoon on the Raven Rocks Run website. Check it out at http://www.ravenrocksrun.org/results.

8.) THANK A VOLUNTEER! A tremendous amount of volunteer effort goes into making Raven Rocks a special event. T-shirt designers, registration volunteers, pie buyers, course setters, trail wardens, box lifters, water servers, bagel cutters, coffee brewers, parking coordinators, photographers, videographers, course sweeps, and the clean-up crew—not to mention the Pound Ridge, Lewisboro, and Westchester County Police officers and the dedicated members of the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps!

If you want to volunteer, please reach out to us at ravenrocksrun@gmail.com. Thank you!

We are grateful that we have such a wonderful group of trail running enthusiasts (YOU!) to share this run with. We are also thankful that we have the thousands of acres of parkland at the Rez to enjoy!

Many runners have become members of the Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation group during registration – We thank you for joining! This group, which many of you are now members of, is one of the oldest “Friends” groups in the country and it is powered solely by memberships and volunteers.

Remember, leave only footprints, take only pictures, and please send us your photos via upload!

Expect more news shared on Facebook, Twitter, via email, and our website as the event nears…. See you at the race! 

Good luck and have fun,

….Rob, Ciorsdan, and the rest of the Raven Rocks Run Volunteers!


PS: Some useful links…

• Map and Directions to the Reservation
• Map of the Raven Rocks Run course
• Follow Raven Rocks on Facebook: https://facebook.com/ravenrocksrun
• Follow Raven Rocks on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ravenrocksrun
• Searchable list of registered runners
• Run on the trails on Sundays all year round!

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


The Raven Rocks Run is the last race in a series of trail races called The Trail Mix. The Trail Mix will resume in 2026!

2026 Trail Mix races TENTATIVE plan*:

In addition, we support and attend many other local trail (and a few road) races. Send us some of your favorites for 2026!

(Note: this post went out as an email to all registered runners for the 2025 Raven Rocks Run, the 2025 Raven 100k Challenge, as well as past registrants and trail runners on our email list. If you did not receive this via email and you are registered, you may want to check your spam folder and set up ravenrocksrun@gmail.com on your address book/white list. If you have not yet registered and you plan to run – sign up now!) 

Raven November 100k Challenge 2025

The Challenge: Walk, hike, or run 100k during the month of November 2025. Distance can be done anywhere, the only requirement is that it be on your feet.

Challenge Rewards:

  • You stay active as the days shorten and the weather cools down.
  • You can join our Strava Club to track your November progress to (and past!) 100k and share with other challengers.
  • If you are in the local area of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, you can check out the Raven Rocks overlook which is on the Raven Rocks 10k Run course (and there have been a pair of Ravens who live there that you might see if your timing is right!).
  • You can earn badges as you unlock the various achievements we have set up.
  • At the end of the month we tally your totals and send or give you a custom finisher “woodallion” with your name and badges and achievements (see image below) along with your shirt (if purchased).
SAMPLE 2024 Raven 100k Challenge “woodallion” (will be updated for 2025!)- The lightly etched outlines will be replaced with physical badge pieces fastened atop as those are earned. So you may have the whole deck filled or just parts. Some of the badges are very difficult to achieve!

Below are the badge images and names from last year and further down are the descriptions of the achievements. We are open to suggestions on adding more badges – especially if you are outside of the local Raven Rocks / Ward Pound Ridge area! Maybe an international badge if you run a Raven related course outside the USA!

Badge descriptions:

– Run 10k on the Raven Rocks Run course (raven badge)
– Run 5x 10k on the Raven Rocks Run course (ultra raven badge)
– Run 10x 10k on the Raven Rocks Run course (full flock badge)
– Take a selfie at the Raven Rocks Overlook and send it in (photographer badge)
– Submit a photo of yourself on a run with your “I Voted” sticker (bald eagle badge) or if you can’t vote in the election, next to someone with an “I Voted” sticker.
– Submit a photo of you running on Thanksgiving (turkey award)
– Photo of a raven anywhere (citizen award) (merged with traveler badge)
– Do a run in the dark to Raven Rocks (night owl badge)
– Do a run at dawn to Raven Rocks (cobweb crew badge)
– 200k distance in November (snowy owl badge)
– 300k distance in November (white raven badge)
– Read a stanza from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” poem and send us a link. Use SoundCloud, YouTube, Facebook, or whatever audio service you want. (wise owl badge)

New badges last year include the “Peeter Badge” named for Peeter Muursepp who during 2020’s Raven 100k Challenge did 32 loops of the 10k Raven Rocks course. Get 32 loops or more to earn the badge. In 2021 Peeter upped the ante with 62 Raven Rocks 10k loops during the month of November. That’s more than 2 per day! If you surpass it with 62 (or more) and the badge name changes to your name. But we think Peeter is safe since that is a huge number. Only 3 people have ever earned this badge.

Jacob Benesch proposed a badge for anyone doing 5x Raven Rocks 10k course in one day (50k total in a day!). We already had a badge named the Ultra Raven Badge (for 5x course runs over the a month), so we now have a new badge called “The Raven Rockstar Badge” which is shown on the photo sample above. Only 3 people earned this badge in 2021-2024.

Note – If you are in contention or you think you might be in contention for one of the “TOP 3” achievements (first, second, or third to 100k, top 3 finisher overall at end of November), you must enter your distances within 36 hours of completing them. That way the others in the challenge who are pushing themselves to the limit can track how they are doing relative to the competition. If you enter all of your data in batches and you come into contention for one of these achievements late in the challenge, you will not be eligible for the achievement.

More information about badges and achievements can be found here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/raven-challenge-badges-and-achievements/

Let us know if you have any questions about the Raven 100k Challenge for November 2025 – email ravenrocksrun@gmail.com. Thanks!

See you on the trails!

Rob