POUND RIDGE, N.Y. - The cry of a raven as it wings across a field or watches from a scraggly tree branch is my favorite sound of the fall season. If you show up for the Raven Rocks 10K trail race on Sunday, Nov. 10, you stand a good chance of getting cheered (or is it jeered?) by these big black birds.
The course is a challenging loop through the trails of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Westchester County’s largest and perhaps oddest-named park. (The name combines a nod to William Lukens Ward, the Republican county leader from 1896 to 1933, and the longtime use of the park by indigenous residents as a “pound” enclosure for live game until it was needed for food.)
As the course travels through the old stomping grounds of the Leatherman himself, our area’s famed nineteenth-century rambling hermit, it features back-to-back climbs up two steep slopes. Participants will finish the day with over one thousand feet of elevation gain.
The race was started in 2015 as a fundraiser to rebuild the 80-foot fire tower that once stood on Cross River Mountain, the park’s high point. According to co-founder Rob Cummings, “It was originally called the Fire Tower 10K. But we switched focus over the last nine years to supporting the Friends of Trailside Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation by recommending membership signups when registering for the race.”
For years, the drive for the tower’s reconstruction seemed to be stalled, but now, according to Cummings, the project has traction again. “2025 should be the year,” he said. “The difference is that now the county actually owns the fire tower, and the remaining tasks are engineering related.”
Speaking of traction, even though the race is not infamously muddy like its cousin, the spring Leatherman Loop, the trails used by the race do feature loose dirt, rocks, leaves, and roots that can make for tricky footing. Trail-running shoes are recommended.
I ran the race two years ago and recall at least one section that required the use of both hands and both feet to make the ascent. I also remember one good downhill wipeout on which I skinned a knee, and enjoying a post-race beer while warming up beside a bonfire in the meadow where the race starts and finishes. Notes of sweat, blood, and maybe a few tears gave that beer an especially tasty flavor profile.
In addition to this in-person event, race organizers are again offering a virtual Raven Rocks 100K Challenge.
Participants who sign up aim to walk, hike, or run a hundred kilometers over the month of November. Divided evenly over thirty days, this averages to a daily dose of about 1.8 miles. Very do-able.
At the website (ravenrocksrun.org) you will find details about an array of achievement badges which challengers can chase over the course of November. There is the Eagle Badge, for those who submit a photo of themselves running with an I VOTED sticker. A Turkey Badge, if you run on Thanksgiving. And most stupendous of all, if you run the Raven Rocks race route every day for a month, you will win the Peeter Badge, named for Peeter Muursepp, who ran the Raven Rocks course 33 times during the month of November 2020 and then almost doubled that feat the following year.
For your convenience, registration for the virtual challenge is open until at least mid-month, and participants can backlog their monthly mileage to date at that point.
Yes, this challenge and the in-person race may have you saying “Nevermore” before you get to the end. But we all know that’s true of any undertaking worth cawing about.
Contact the.runaround1@gmail.com with your stories and ideas to help promote the local running scene.
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