Race / challenge shirts are available as long-sleeved cotton and short sleeved tech versions — but we have limited remaining inventory since we placed the final order over a week ago. Order now to ensure your size & style will be on hand.
PPS: The Raven Rocks Run is the final run of the Trail Mix Series of races in Westchester / Fairfield. More information about the series is here: trailmixseries.org.
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 racemorning. 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!
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!
*assuming all races are approved and returning for 2026 — which we hope they are*
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!)
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.
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.
The Raven Rocks Run is a challenging 10k trail run at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River, NY.
Race is Sunday, November 9th, 2025 starting at 9am.
The race will start in the Meadow – parking is in the meadow lot and overflow parking is on the upper meadow.
The course passes by the spot where the Leatherman’s Loop begins. Instead of heading towards the river as the Loop does, the Raven Rocks Run 10k course climbs and climbs up to the two highest points in the park (Raven Rocks Overlook and the Fire Tower Summit) before heading back for a (mostly) downhill and (relatively) flat finish.
The course passes by the site of the former Cross River Mountain fire tower which is the highest point in the park. We have been heavily involved with a group working towards getting back the tower to its former spot in the park and there is good news on the return of the fire tower!
If you like to plan your races in advance, sign up now! There is a special combo discount if you sign up for both events (10k race and 100k challenge) at thesame time. There’s even a bonus EARLY RAVEN PRICING to celebrate opening of Raven registration.
52 of our participants have entered enough distance to qualify for a challenge woodallion!
If you ended the month of November lower than the cutoff (under the 100k mark) unfortunately you did not qualify for a 100k challenge finisher woodallion this year 🙁 … There’s always next year!
The cutoff for submissions was 12/4. The table below shows what was 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 reached 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 was made 12/4/24 with the badge claims and distances you and other challenge participants have reported.
These are the final tallies:
Raven November 100k Challenge 2024 Distance and Badge Claims
Some highlights from the 2024 Raven 100k Challenge include:
Paul Woolley – 1st overall male – 449.2k ••• Jillian Swope – 1st overall female – 327.2k
Kevin Ascher– 2nd overall male – 323.7k ••• Mea Sgaglio – 2nd overall female – 325.7k
Gregory Boland– 3rd overall male – 268.1k ••• Jennifer Kehl – 3rd overall female – 318.0k
Mark Shaner– 4th overall male – 249.2k ••• Katherine Blanque – 4th overall female – 254.6k
William Fraoli – 5th overall male – 243.0k ••• Liz Osterhus – 5th overall female – 253.7k
•••••••
Kevin Ascher– 1st male to 100k ••• Mea Sgaglio – 1st female to 100k
Mark Shaner – 2nd male to 100k ••• Liz Osterhus– 2nd female to 100k
Todd Jonasz – 3rd male to 100k ••• Jennifer Kehl – 3rd female to 100k
•••••
Number of 2024 participants: 52 total – 27 women, 25 men
Total badge types: 17 unique badges
Most total badge types possible for one person to earn this year: 15*
Number of participants who earned the maximum number of 15 badges: 0
Number of badges earned total: 292
Most common badge earned: Bald Eagle badge (44 of 52)
Second most common: Turkey badge and Veteran’s Day badge (43 of 52 for both)
Least common badge earned: Peeter Badge, Raven Rockstar Badge, Full Flock (all three 1 of 52)
Second least common badges: Ultra Raven, Raven Meteor (both 3 of 52)
Number of GPS challenge items hidden at the Rez: 28
Number of GPS challenge badges earned: 26
Number of GPS challenge items still hidden at the park: 2, we will be searching for them during an upcoming SundayRun!
2024 Participant who completed the most Raven Rocks Run 10k courses: Paul Wooley (36 times! Including 5x Raven 10k loops on November 30th to earn the Raven Rockstar Badge).
Number of participants who reached at least 32 Raven Rocks 10k Loop courses completed in November 2024 to earn the most difficult badge of all: The Peeter Badge: 1 of 52
Note: if a participant exceeds 62 Raven Rocks courses in an upcoming year, the Peeter badge gets renamed for them… I don’t know if anyone will ever exceed the record on this.
The Raven Meteor badge is for participants who witness a meteor while running during November. Three of our participants achieved this: Ivan, Chris, and Jillian. Congrats! You get a special meteor flair for your woodallion this year. Note for next year’s participants: The annual Leonid Meteor Shower is in Mid-Nov each year and it is a perfect time for a night run/walk/hike and meteor gazing!
Other new badge ideas that challenge participants have suggested include the Volunteer Badge, the Fowl Weather Badge (run/walk/hike in foul weather to a Raven feature), 1st day flair and last day flair (for run/walk/hike day 1 and day 30 of the month), Coven Badge (run/walk/hike with 13 or more friends). We are open to other badge suggestions as well – ravenrocksrun.org/contact-us
Next year we plan to have the 10th annual Raven Rocks Run 10k Trail Race at 9 a.m. on Sunday, November 9, 2025. We also plan to bring back the Raven 100k Challenge as well for a 6th year. Anyone who signs up for both events at the same time will get a break on the dual registration. In addition to bundle discount, there also will be a super early raven discount when registration opens in January 2025. We appreciate the early support of the race and challenge! And it is one more chance to Join the Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation for 2025!
Thanks again for being a part of this event! (This page including any late updates can be found at ravenrocksrun.org)
*the Full Flock badge (10x on the course) supersedes the Ultra Raven badge (5x on the course) which supersedes the Raven Badge (1x on the course).
Check ravenrocksrun.org/photos for links to pictures (from this year and past years) of the Raven 100k Challenge and the Raven Rocks Run.
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
