12/16 update: We are sending out woodallions to all who completed the challenge – some participants purchased shirts which will also be going out.
12/15 update: We received the woodallions from our custom woodallion maker “Raven Tree Works” who we have worked with for the last six Raven 100k challenges. They do great work. No relation to the Raven Rocks Run other than sharing a love of all things raven!
53 of these 59 participants have entered enough distance to qualify for a challenge woodallion to date.
SIX (6) participants have reported SOME distances BUT THEY DID NOT report enough to qualify to receive a 100k challenge woodallion.
over 1,300 distance entries have been made by our 59 challenge participants to date.
over 9,600 kilometers have been walked/hiked/run AND REPORTED by our challengers!
IMPORTANT:
If you end the month of November LOWER than the 100k cutoff (aka under the 100k mark) unfortunately you DID NOT qualify to receive a 100k challenge finisher woodallion 🙁
If you report a whole lot of distance maybe two or three weeks into the challenge this makes you ineligible to compete head to head with others in the challenge for the top 3 recognition. We will still recognize your distances — but you were essentially running a solo race. The others who reported in a timely way were competing in the challenge together.
The CUTOFF FOR BADGE and DISTANCE SUBMISSIONS was THURSDAY 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 (and who reports their distances!) gets a custom Raven Challenge Woodallion suitable for display — and even suitable to hang on holiday decorations!
FINAL TALLY was cut off and made after the stroke of midnight 12:00am on 12/5/25 with the badge claims and distances you and other challenge participants have reported.We let the engraving company know on 12/5 so you have until 11:59pm on 12/4/25 to update and add.
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!). 12/5 update – Badge claims are COMPLETE! thank you for entering!
2025 Raven November 100k Challenge Distance and Badge Claims
Source for the distances is here (last imported on date shown at the top of this post). The source will have more up to date distances. Badge claimscan be made here if you have new claims to make. Scroll right --> to see search bar for table
If you haven’t yet signed up for the Raven100k Virtual Challenge, the link to do it is here: https://runsignup.com/ravenrocks. You can add your mileage from earlier in the month no problem.
Next year’s race will be Sunday November 8th, 2026 – as always we plan the race for the weekend after the NYC Marathon!
2025 start line panorama (stitched together 5 photos)
Hello Raven Runners!
Last Sunday was perfect weather for running – the air was cool but not chilly at the start. It warmed up during the race — and everyone was able to hang out after the race comfortably and talk running, chow down on post race food, and make s’mores over the fire pit.
Raven Rocks 2025 Results – these results also have some photos linked if your race bib was visible.
Congratulations to the 264 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, pie picker-upers, course checkers, pre-race course setters, 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 and helped by Mike and Mario (who also ran in the race!), Alex, Jake, Bobby, 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 (below) came to the race to be on standby to help in case of injury.
LVAC Standby Crew at the Raven Rocks Run for the 10th 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 $4,500 for the friends group through the membership program on the registration website this year. Thank you Raven Runners, Hikers, and Walkers!
Fire Tower Returning!
The Raven Rocks Run was originally called The Fire Tower 10k and was aimed at building awareness and raising money towards the restoration of the Cross River Mountain Fire Tower(check website for photos & videos & history — and to get on the email list!).
It has been amazing watching the progress of the rebuilding efforts accelerate this year. There is a construction site atop the mountain with foundation work well underway. Fire tower pieces are being assembled at the park. We are hopeful for a 2026 return and opening of the tower — rest assured that Raven Rocks Runners will be among the first to hear about it!
Even before the race we had a dedicated group of volunteers and advocates who met with county officials. We talked fire tower topics, logistics, and possibilities.
Tom Cohn — the longest tenured and Chief fire tower volunteer — connected the county with a fire tower restoration specialist. He also found the exact model of fire tower that had been at the park starting in 1926 — which is the one the county ultimately purchased and been has readied for restoration (see photos above and at https://crmfiretower.org).
Musical Guests
We welcomed back “Block D” — the band made up of Casey Stanford (Guitar), Layne Krulik (Drums), and Ellie Tsiropanas (vocals & guitar) who were rocking mile 5.5 at Pell Hill for the third year.
Runners heard Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and many other rockin’ tunes as they headed across Reservation Road towards the finish around 3/4 mile away. The band members currently attend John Jay High School & Middle School. Our thanks to them for coming out to brighten our morning.
“Block D” aka The Pell Hill Band: Casey Stanford (Guitar), Layne Krulik (Drums), Ellie Tsiropanas (Vocals & Guitar).
Cobweb Crew
A small selection of race Volunteers in these two photos
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.
You can see some of them here early in the morning checking the trail:
We have a group of volunteer photographers(thank you Carol, Mark, John, Griffin, and Rob) who came out to the race to help document the event. Their 2025 photos are available on our permanent gallery website here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2025
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 2024 with one minor change being the re-routing around the construction site for the Fire Tower. Barring any downed trees overnight everything is set to go! 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 can (and 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. Trying to keep it simple for you – just submit the new stuff each time.
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.
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!
