Tag: photos

2025 Raven Rocks Recap

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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.

2025 PHOTOS

First and foremost – the PHOTOS from this year are available here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2025

Thank you to photographers Carol, Mark, John, Griffin, Rob, plus runners and spectators who sent in or tagged us in photos!

If YOU have any of your PHOTOS or VIDEO to upload – click or tap here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/upload/q8V9Ft/2025 to share with everyone in the 2025 Raven Rocks Run photos & runner upload gallery.

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!

The race supports the Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. Participants have the opportunity to join the Friends group during registration — and over 65 of you took advantage.

You can STILL JOIN the Friends of Trailside via this link: https://runsignup.com/Race/Donate/NY/CrossRiver/RavenRocksRun

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:

More trail cam photos are here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2025/2025-Raven-Rocks-Trail-Cam/

Race Highlights

The race had two repeat winners this year!

Linsday Felling (54:55) won for the FIFTH time and Eamonn Sullivan (46:25) won for the FOURTH time.

Lindsday Felling at Michigan Rd 1 mile mark (photo by Rob Cummings)
Eamonn Sullivan at Pell Hill (photo by Rob Cummings)

The youngest finishers were a pair of 10-year olds running the race for the THIRD time: Christian Piddington and Wyatt Nable.

Thank you to all who came, ran, helped, and watched. A great day all around!

Note: If you have registered for the Raven 100k November Challenge please report your distances here: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/25402#resultSetId-519872;perpage:100 and submit your Raven Woodallion Badge Claims here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/raven-100k-challenge-badge-submission-form/.

If you haven’t registered for the 100k November Challenge you can still sign up – 11/15 is the last day though!

Thanks for helping make it a very Ravember month! 

….Rob

Photo Gallery for 2025 (and prior years!)

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

Links to prior years photos (2015-2024) is at this link: https://ravenrocksrun.org/photos/

Lastly – if you have photos YOU’D like to share (and be able to find years later!) post them to the 2025 runner’s upload album gallery using this link: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/upload/q8V9Ft/2025

Runners also share photos and video via Instagram – tag us @ravenrocksrun https://www.instagram.com/ravenrocksrun/

Some selected photos from 2025:

2025 Results Posted

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We have posted the 2025 results here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/results/2025-results/.

Thanks runners for making this a great day and thanks to our volunteers for pitching in and making it happen.

We are working on a recap of the day and have photos and video organized and uploaded. Check on the albums to see where you were captured on the course.

Our photographers do a great job! Today John, Carol, Mark, Griffin and Rob took photos and video — plus thanks to all of the runners who will be submitting 2025 race day photos – thank you in advance! (<–hint: upload yours to this album!)

2024 Raven Rocks Recap

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Hello Raven Runners!

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!

2024 PHOTOS

First and foremost – the PHOTOS from this year are available here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2024

Thank you to photographers Carol, Mark, Bill, Dean, Orion, Rob, plus runners and spectators who sent in or tagged us in photos!

If you have any to upload – click or tap here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/upload/cfVpF2/2024 to share with everyone in the 2024 Raven Rocks Run runner upload gallery.

Raven Rocks 2024 Results

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!

The race supports the Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. Participants have the opportunity to join the Friends group during registration — and nearly 80 of you took advantage. You can STILL JOIN the friends group via this link: https://runsignup.com/Race/Donate/NY/CrossRiver/RavenRocksRun

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!

Note: If you have registered for the Raven 100k November Challenge please report your distances here: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/25402#resultSetId-431881;perpage:100 and submit your Raven Woodallion Badge Claims here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/raven-100k-challenge-badge-submission-form/.

If you haven’t registered for the 100k November Challenge you can still sign up – today (11/16) is the last day though!

Thanks for helping make it a very Ravember month! 

….Rob

Photo Gallery for 2024 (and prior years!)

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

Links to prior years photos (2015-2023) is at this link: https://ravenrocksrun.org/photos/

Lastly – if you have photos YOU’D like to share (and be able to find years later!) post them to the 2024 runner’s upload album gallery using this link: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/upload/cfVpF2/2024

Runners also share photos and video via Instagram – tag us @ravenrocksrun https://www.instagram.com/ravenrocksrun/

Some selected photos from 2024:

2024 Results Posted

News
Comments

We have posted the 2024 results here: https://ravenrocksrun.org/results/2024-results/.

Thanks runners for making this a great day and thanks to our volunteers for pitching in and making it happen.

We are working on a recap of the day and have photos and video organized and uploaded. Check on the albums to see where you were captured on the course.

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!)

2022 Photos

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Comments

We have posted photos from our fantastic team of volunteer photographers here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2022

Thanks to photographers Carol Gordon, Tom Casper, Sawyer Cummings, Gene Leeds, and Rob Cummings.

We also had a GoPro set up capturing the finish line (to be posted). Once it is up. check to see your form as you got to your 10.3rd Kilometer…

There’s plenty of room for more photos if you want to share yours at our runner upload gallery here:

2021 Raven Rocks Run Recap

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2021 Raven Rocks Run start in the Meadow Field at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

On Sunday morning November 14, 2021, over 300 runners ran the sixth annual Raven Rocks 10k Trail Run at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

Race Day Recap

The weather was chilly upon organizers arrival, with temperatures in the high 20’s. However, the sun soon came out and the sun warmed up the day.

The main event tent was set up on the Wednesday before the race, but fierce storms with high winds on both Friday and Saturday put an end to that plan, knocking over the tent and damaging some of the rigging. A crew was on standby ready to to an Amish Tent Raising at the crack of dawn on Sunday if necessary. But we ended up not needing the large shelter on race day due to the sunny weather. We had registration underneath some pop up market tents and the food and drink was open air.

Over 300 runners finished the 6th running of the Raven Rocks 10k course. Thanks to everyone who came out to run, volunteer, and cheer.

Runner Recap

Edmond Dee of New Rochelle, NY came in first in the men’s division with a time of 49:45. Christopher Irwin of Cortlandt Manon was close behind at 49:52 after coming in 3rd in 2019. Jacob Benesch of New York, NY was third with a time of 50:49.

Edmond Dee celebrates as he reaches the finish line.

Joelle Reeves of Brooklyn was first overall in the women’s division with a time of 51:38. Madeline Villalba (55:14) of New York, NY was second and Lindsey Felling (57:24) of Fairfield, CT came in third.

Joelle Reeves smiles as she gets to the finish line.

Kase Atkinson of Cross River was the youngest male runner at 11 years old.

Miriam Wilson of Pound Ridge was the youngest female runner at 13 years old, finishing in 1:15:20 as a first-time runner in this race.

Youngest female finisher Miriam Wilson (13) flanked by her brother Byron and her dad Jack.

Rob Fryer (1:20:44) of New Caanan was the oldest male finisher on the day at 74 years young.

Kelly Heller of Rockville, MD was the oldest female finisher at 68 years young.

Prizes for the overall winners and age group winners are a range of tart-style pies from local farmer’s market favorite Dutch Desserts (Key information: Dutch Desserts is a vendor at the Pleasantville farmer’s market on Saturdays from 9am-2pm!)

Prize table showing off the Dutch Desserts pies.

Essential Helpers

At the start line of the race during pre-race announcements, parks superintendant Jeff Main was awarded Bib #1 for his help at the park with all things race and trail related. Especially the post race amenities like the fire pit and picnic tables among MANY other things he gets accomplished for this race and the Leatherman’s Loop.

Dave Cope, Tony Godino (Leatherman’s Loop founders) with Jeff Main, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation park superintendant.

The Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation is led by Jeff Main at the park and helped by Mike, Chase, Kevin, Bobby and the rest of the crew who are all essential to the success of the race.

The Cobweb Crew

The Cobweb Crew is our early race morning volunteer run crew who know the course and make sure the pink course markings were still up and leading the runners to the right places. Many of these cobweb crew runners also ran the race – making their day a 20k!

The 2021 edition of the Cobweb Crew™ – making courses safe and correct for 3 years running!

One member of the 2021 cobweb crew – Jacob Benesch (red jacket in photo above)- ran the course TWICE before the race. And then came in 3RD OVERALL in the race itself. Then Jacob continued as we were awarding runner prizes and ran the course two more times for a total of 5 Raven Rocks 10ks on the day. Jacob earned his “Raven Rockstar” badge that day — and established it as a new badge for the November Raven 100k Challenge.

Start of the 2021 race – view from above.

Course Recap

The course – which is run entirely on the trails of the reservation — starts in the large meadow about a quarter-mile into the park. It follows trails up through the covered bridge to the Michigan Road campground where it delves deep into the 4,300 acres of the park. The halfway point is the east-facing Raven Rocks overlook, where the race got its name.

Runners descend again before climbing back up to the highest point in the park, the location of the former (and future!) fire tower.

Runners then head back down on the blue trail to the sledding spot on Pell Hill. The final half-mile is along the Cross River back to the Meadow finish line.

Many runners have called it one of hardest 10k races out there because of the hilly terrain and the narrow trails. The course has over 1,000 feet of elevation gain and features a cliffside run, miles of single-track trails, a rock scramble, plus beautiful meadow runs.

The Trail Mix Series – Back in 2022!

The Raven Rocks Run is part of a series of local trail races called the Trail Mix Series.

Some of the other races in the series are:

  • The Leatherman’s Loop (Cross River),
  • Run The Farm (Katonah),
  • the Sarah Bishop Bushwhack (North Salem),
  • Where the Pavement Ends (Ridgefield),
  • A Mild Sprain (Yonkers),
  • and Paine to Pain (New Rochelle).

The Trail Mix Series website has more information: trailmixseries.org including links to all of the races shown above.

Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation

In addition to running a race, runners were also able to join the Friends of Trailside when they signed up.

Ninety-three participants to date joined as members raising over $7,900.00 for the Museum in the form of memberships. The most popular membership level runners picked to join at was the $100 Wood Turtle level with 51 memberships at that level. Wood Turtle and above comes with a parking pass for entry into the park for all of 2021.

You can still join the Friends of Trailside and Ward Pound Ridge for 2022 through the Raven Rocks race website which will be processing memberships through January 15, 2022! (click here!). Your membership $ goes directly to the Friends group and is a 501(c)3 non-profit.

Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runners

A team of runners known as the Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runners are key volunteers at the race.

Many of these volunteers also meet up to run the trails in northern Westchester year-round.

These volunteers set the course, staff the water station, handle registration, pre-run the course, sweep to make sure no injured runners are on the course, and clean up any traces after the run. We could not put on the event without them – THANK YOU!

Many of the Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runners (sundayruns.org) at Raven Rocks 2021. The group is a welcoming one with running abilities spanning the full range from a Rookie Runner program to the speedy 2021 race winner (Edmund Dee, shown pre-race with his bib on!)
Bib & shirt pickup registration volunteers

Last but certainly not least, the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps provided a standby team of volunteer EMS personnel and an ambulance just in case they are needed.

Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps crew at the 2021 Raven Rocks Run – BIG Thank You to all of the volunteers who spent their time with us on race morning.

Proceeds go to Friends of Trailside, LVAC, and other local not-for-profits.

Thanks again for coming out to run and volunteer! See you on the trails…

….. Rob Cummings, Raven Rocks Run race director

2019 Recap

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2019 Raven Rocks Run start

On Sunday morning November 10, 2019, nearly 250 runners ran the fifth annual Raven Rocks 10k Trail Run at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

The weather was a bit cold at the start, with temperatures in the high 30’s. However, the sun was out and the crowd was feeling the warmth.

Runners who had done Raven Rocks before knew they would soon be warmed up by their race effort, especially the early climb. Finishing runners were welcomed back at the tent with hot coffee, hot chocolate, bagels, bananas, and s’mores over a hot fire.

Overall men’s winner Justin Lubeley at around the 4 mile mark climbing up the fire tower hill.

Justin Lubeley of Darien, CT came in first in the men’s division with a time of 46:21. Justin came in 2nd in the 2018 Raven Rocks Run and improved his time by around 1:40. Chris Sina-Jessiman (46:48) of Brooklyn was second after coming in 3rd in 2018. and Christopher Irwin (47:20) of Cortlandt Manor was third.

Overall women’s winner Lindsey Felling just before crossing the finish line at Raven Rocks 2019.

Lindsey Felling of Larchmont repeated as first overall in the women’s division with a time of 51:36. Christina Thomson (55:50) of New Canaan was second and Phillippa Keast (56:06) of Tuckahoe came in third.

Youngest male runner Kase Atkinson keeping warm before the start.

Kase Atkinson of Cross River was the youngest male runner at 9 years old.

Youngest female runner Rita Haitoff – for the second year in a row!

Rita Haitoff of Katonah was the youngest female runner at 10 years old, finishing in 1:37:07 lopping nearly 8 minutes off her time from last year. 1:44:57.

Ed Moore (1:14:37) of Cos Cob was the oldest finisher on the day at 69 years young.

A trio of ladies including Heidi Johnston, Trish Gallagher, and Amy Marrazzo tied for the most experienced female runner recognition. Heidi won the F50 age category too!

Some other notable top local finishers include the Randolph twins, Helena and Julia (1:10:27 and 1:22:25) of Mt. Kisco who took first and third in the 14-18 year old age group. Bill Bradsell (52:27) of Bedford beat Todd Henrich (52:57) of South Salem in the men’s 50-59 category and kept his 3 year Raven Rocks M50 win streak intact.

Three pie winners after the finish.

Prizes for the overall winners and age group winners are a range of tart-style pies from local farmer’s market favorite Dutch Desserts (Key information: Dutch Desserts is a vendor at the Pleasantville farmer’s market on Saturdays!)

Lee Willett picking up his Bib #1 for the 2019 race.

The race was started this year by South Salem resident and Sunday Runs Chief navigator Lee Willett who was awarded Bib #1 for his tireless work on behalf of the area trail running community.

The 2019 edition of the Cobweb Crew™ – making courses safe and correct for 3 years running!

Lee also checked the course with the rest of the Cobweb Crew early race morning to make sure the pink course markings were still up and leading the runners to the right places. Many of these cobweb crew runners also ran the race – making their day a 20k!

Coming off of the covered bridge at mile 0.3 on the course.

The course – which is run entirely on the trails of the reservation — starts in the large meadow about a quarter-mile into the park. It follows trails up through the covered bridge to the Michigan Road campground where it delves deep into the 4,300 acres of the park. The halfway point is the east-facing Raven Rocks overlook, where the race got its name.

Runners descend again before climbing back up to the highest point in the park, the location of the former (and future!) fire tower.

Chris Cassone put the Rock in the Raven at the 2019 race!

Awaiting runners at the top of the climb was our very own Raven Rocker Chris Cassone jamming on the six-string. We hope it made your climb more enjoyable. Chris had a blast! You can view yourself and other runners on GoPro video with Chris’ soundtrack in the background.

Runners then head back down on the blue trail to the sledding spot on Pell Hill. The final half-mile is along the Cross River back to the Meadow finish line.

Many runners have called it one of hardest 10k races out there because of the hilly terrain and the narrow trails. The course has over 1,000 feet of elevation gain and features a cliffside run, miles of single-track trails, a rock scramble, plus beautiful meadow runs.

Raven Rocks is part of a series of local trail races called the Trail Mix Series.

Some of the other races in the series are the Leatherman’s Loop (Cross River), Run The Farm (Katonah), the Sarah Bishop Bushwhack (North Salem), Where the Pavement Ends (Ridgefield), A Mild Sprain (Yonkers), and Paine to Pain (New Rochelle). The Trail Mix Series website has more information: trailmixseries.org.

In addition to running a race, runners were also able to join the Friends of Trailside when they signed up.

Fifty-seven runners to date joined as members raising over $4,100.00 for the Museum in the form of memberships. The most popular membership level runners picked to join at was the $100 Wood Turtle level, which comes with a parking pass for entry into the park for all of 2020.

You can still join the Friends of Trailside and Ward Pound Ridge for 2020 through the Raven Rocks race website which will be processing memberships through January! (click here!). Your membership $ goes directly to the Friends group and is a 501(c)3 non-profit.

A team of runners known as the Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runners are key volunteers at the race.

Many of these volunteers also meet up to run the trails in northern Westchester year-round. These volunteers set the course, staff the water station, handle registration, pre-run the course, sweep to make sure no injured runners are on the course, and clean up any traces after the run. We could not put on the event without them – THANK YOU!

In addition, The Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation led by Jeff Main at the park and helped by Mike, Chase, Kevin, Bobby and the rest of the crew are essential to the success of the race.

Last but certainly not least, the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps provided a standby team of volunteer EMS personnel and an ambulance just in case they are needed.

In addition the Pound Ridge Volunteer Fire Department had a rescue crew ready to go in case of any trail emergencies. Thankfully there were just minor bumps and bruises this year.

Proceeds go to Friends of Trailside, LVAC, and other local not-for-profits.

2019 Photos

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We have posted photos from our fantastic team of volunteer photographers here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2019

Thanks to photographers Carol Gordon, Lee Willett, Michael Rodgers, Michelle Blum, Chris Reinke, John Cummings (my dad!), Gene Leeds, Sawyer Cummings, and Rob Cummings.

There’s plenty of room for more photos if you want to share yours at our runner upload gallery here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/upload/c7Rm4X/2019 — Big thanks to our runners and other volunteers who uploaded photos so far.

2018 Recap

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On Sunday morning November 11, 250 runners met up and competed in the fourth annual Raven Rocks 10k Trail Run at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

2018 Race results are here •  2018 Race photos are here.

The weather was chilly at the start, with temperatures at 32 degrees. However, the crowd was in a cheerful mood since the sun was shining and they would soon be warmed up by their race effort. At the finish, the temperature had risen to a much more hospitable 45 degrees. Runners were also welcomed back – after they caught their breath — with hot coffee, hot chocolate, bagels, bananas, and s’mores over a hot fire.

Rob Kehoe won the men’s 2018 race, repeating his 2016 performance.

Rob Kehoe, originally from Katonah and a John Jay graduate, came in first in the men’s division with a time of 46:52. Rob also won the race in 2016 and said he’d definitely be back for more. Justin Lubely (48:08) of Darien was second and Chris Sina-Jessiman (48:18) of Brooklyn was third.

Lindsey Felling won the 2018 race and also clinched her 2018 Trail Mix Series victory with the win.

Lindsay Felling of Larchmont finished first overall in the women’s division with a time of 52:12. Louise Mullan (53:18) of Hastings was second and Emily Bocklet (1:00:58) of Katonah came in third.

Youngest Runner Rita Haitoff runs with her mom Karen in the 2018 Raven Rocks 10k run.

Rita Haitoff of Katonah was the youngest runner at 9 years old, finishing in 1:44:57. James McGough (1:32:35) of Mahopac — and a regular runner at the Reservation — was the oldest finisher on the day at 72 years young. Some other notable top local finishers include Sydney Bieber (1:10:45) of Bedford who won the 14-18 year old age group as well as Bill Bradsell (53:41) and Gregory Fleming (53:49), both of Bedford, who finished eight seconds apart to take first and second in the men’s 50-59 category.

Official starter Tom Curley on the course in 2018.

Awards for the overall winners and age group winners are a range of pies from local farmer’s market favorite Dutch Desserts. In addition this year the first place age group winners got custom Raven Rocks ultimate frisbee discs. The race was started this year by South Salem resident Tom Curley who launched one of the Raven prize discs downfield in front of the starting line to kick off the race.

The course – which is run entirely on the trails of the reservation — starts in the large meadow about a quarter-mile into the park. It follows trails up over the covered bridge to the Michigan Road campground where it delves deep into the 4,300 acres of the park. The halfway point is the east-facing Raven Rocks overlook, where the race got its name. Runners descend again before climbing back up to the highest point in the park, the location of the former fire tower. Runners head back down on the blue trail to the sledding spot on Pell Hill. The final half-mile is along the Cross River back to the Meadow finish line.

Many runners have called it one of hardest 10k races out there because of the hilly terrain and the narrow trails — plus this year added some wet spots where prior years have been dry. The course has over 1,000 feet of elevation gain and features a cliffside run, miles of single-track trails, a rock scramble, and beautiful meadow runs.

Raven Rocks is part of a series of local trail races called the Trail Mix Series. Some of the other races in the series are the Leatherman’s Loop (Cross River), Run The Farm (Katonah), the Sarah Bishop Bushwhack (North Salem), Where the Pavement Ends (Ridgefield), A Mild Sprain (Yonkers), and Paine to Pain (New Rochelle). The Trail Mix Series website has more information: trailmixseries.org.

In addition to running a race, runners were also able to join the Friends of Trailside when they signed up. Forty-seven runners joined as members raising over $3,800.00 for the Museum. The most popular membership level runners picked to join at was the $100 Wood Turtle level, which comes with a parking pass for entry into the park for all of 2019. Membership information for joining the Friends of Trailside is here: friendsoftrailside.org.

A team of volunteers known as the Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runners help put on the race. Many of these volunteers also meet up to run the trails in northern Westchester year-round. These volunteers set the course, staff the water station, handle registration, pre-run the course, sweep to make sure no injured runners are on the course, and clean up any traces after the run.

In addition, The Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation led by Jeff Main at the park and helped by Mike, Chase, Kevin, and the rest of the crew are essential to the success of the race. Last but certainly not least, the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps provided a standby team of volunteer EMS personnel and an ambulance just in case they are needed. Thankfully there were just minor bumps and bruises this year. Proceeds from the race go to Friends of Trailside, LVAC, and other local not-for-profits.

2018 Photos

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We have posted photos from our fantastic team of volunteer photographers here: https://leathermansloop.smugmug.com/Raven-Rocks-Run/2018

Thanks to photographers Ciorsdan Conran, Carol Gordon, Diane Bradsell, Lee Willett, John Cummings (my dad!), and Rob Cummings.

Mike Lubchekno was also out there. Mike is a freelance professional — not affiliated with the race in any way. He has some great shots of runners and the day.

Big thanks to a few of our runners and other volunteers who uploaded photos so far. There’s plenty of room for more photos if you want to share yours at our runner upload gallery here:  https://bit.ly/2JLh09C