2025 Report

August 30, 2025 • Fort Valley, VA

52 starters, 35 finishers

On Saturday, August 30, 52 runners toed the line at the 2025 edition of The Ring. A total of 35 runners reached the finish, marking our highest finish rate in years. Among those finishers, 23 completed the rocky 71-mile course for the first time, proudly joining the Fellowship of The Ring. Conditions may have been the best they’ve ever been: a slightly chilly morning with daytime highs in the low 80’s, and a star-filled, clear night. It was a treat for runners and volunteers alike.

Leading the way for our 35 finishers was Dan Fogg with a blazing time of 16:46, followed closely by Siqi Wu in 17:12. Lexi DeLisle led the women’s side, placing third overall, with a time of 17:40. James Coyne rounded out the men’s run with a fourth-place finish of 17:58. Kellie Seaton and Jessica Honeycut took second and third in the women’s run, working together with a joint time of 21:42.

The most stressful moment of the weekend came even before the runners hit the trail. A religious retreat hosted by Los Legendarios at Powell’s Fort turned the start line at Signal Knob into a puzzle of cars and confusion. After much shuffling and a few creative shuttle runs to a satellite lot half a mile away, the race got underway - just one minute behind schedule.

At Camp Roo, the second runner into the aid station, Stephen Knight, was ready to call it a day. His shoes weren’t handling the endless rocks, and he announced he was tapping out. But the VHTRC spirit wouldn’t let him go that easily. Volunteers began canvassing for backup footwear, and in true fellowship fashion, Kevin Bligan handed him Carl Bligan’s brand-new, never-worn Hoka Mafates. With fresh shoes and renewed energy, Stephen pushed back onto the trail and ultimately finished strong in just over 21 hours.

Family ties were on full display at this year’s Ring. Husband-and-wife duo Johnny and Betsy Lyons both finished, Johnny completing his second loop around Orange and Betsy proudly joining the Fellowship. Brothers Jakob and Silas Deren became Fellowship members this year, running together for much of the day before parting ways at Edinburg Gap.

Regardless of finishing time, our runners were treated with a culinary feast. Each aid station went well beyond the basics; runners could choose from potato chips and candy to smashburgers and pulled pork sandwiches. These treats surely powered our runners through day and night and exemplifies the passion of VHTRC volunteers.

Speaking of volunteers, it truly takes a village for The Ring to be successful. A week before the race, Dan Fogg organized a trail maintenance day with 12 volunteers, ensuring the trails were in top-notch shape despite our rainy summer. On race day, almost 40 volunteers worked our aid stations (and other jobs as assigned), providing the physical and mental support our runners needed to cross the finish line.

Daisy and Lauren, the 2025 Ring race directors, are beyond thankful for our runners and volunteers alike. We’re thrilled that you chose to spend your Labor Day weekend with us and hope you had an excellent experience. See you in 2026!

Runner reports and shared photos

Click here for our shared photo album!

Photos

Other reports

The Culinary Tour of The Ring, by Karen Wille

Results

See below Results table for the splits for all 52 runners; and then below that table for the list of the volunteers who put on the 2025 event.

Place	Last Name	First Name	Gender	Age	State	Time	Notes
1	Fogg	Dan	Male	40	VA	16:46	1st male
2	Wu	Siqi	Male	34	IN	17:12	2nd male
3	DeLisle	Lexi	Female	28	VA	17:40	1st female
4	Coyne	James	Male	29	VA	17:58	3rd male
5	Baker	Cam	Male	48	PA	19:25
6	Fuller	Jesse	Male	41	VA	19:33
7	Knight	Stephen	Male	39	NC	21:15
8	Seaton	Kellie	Female	35	VA	21:42	2nd female
9	Lyons	Johnny	Male	42	MD	21:42
10	Honeycutt	Jessica	Female	32	MD	21:42	3rd female
11	Binder	Joshua	Male	26	WV	21:45
12	Goad	Randy	Male	48	WV	21:45
13	Gonzalez	Jonathan	Male	39	DC	22:05
14	Cawthorn	Deb	Female	54	VA	22:26
15	Deren	Jakob	Male	28	VA	23:29
16	Lira	Ivory	Female	38	VA	23:41
17	Shearouse	Peter	Male	38	CO	23:41
18	Deren	Silas	Male	25	VA	24:22
19	Nguyen	Jack	Male	43	VA	24:27
20	Lyons	Betsy	Female	45	MD	25:12
21	Eggleston	Connor	Male	43	VA	25:45
22	Greenawalt	Jamie	Female	57	PA	25:49
23	Poffenberger	Charlie	Male	51	VA	25:55
24	Bourgeois	Gaynor	Female	56	MD	26:05
25	Aumayr	Paul	Male	55	MD	26:08
26	Bertram	Travis	Male	52	VA	26:27
27	Pawlak	Robert	Male	62	PA	26:29
28	Luu	Tin	Male	44	VA	26:59
29	Pichan	Michael	Male	50	NC	27:16
30	Correa	Caleb	Male	41	VA	27:18
31	Gospodinov	Dimitar	Male	51	VA	27:25
32	Orndorff	Phil	Male	51	NC	27:37
33	Perry	Robert	Male	62	MD	27:37
34	Doss	Kerlin	Male	32	VA	28:12
35	Calabrese	John	Male	45	VA	28:45
	Vazquez	Alberto	Male	56	MD	Nope
	Altemos	Erin	Male	51	MD	Nope
	Bond	Matthew	Male	37	VA	Nope
	Chang	Jordan	Male	38	VA	Nope
	Cooper	Stephen	Male	71	MD	Nope
	Dararti	Murali	Male	47	VA	Nope
	Douglas	Michelle	Female	47	WV	Nope
	Fitz	John	Male	51	MD	Nope
	Howard	Charlene	Female	53	MD	Nope
	Krynski	Ian	Male	25	MD	Nope
	Ouellette	Jimm	Male	52	VA	Nope
	Peabody	Lisa	Female	60	VA	Nope
	Richardson	Joshua	Male	30	PA	Nope
	Salsgiver	Charles	Male	48	MD	Nope
	Sifri	Costi	Male	58	VA	Nope
	Wille	Karen	Female	54	NC	Nope
	Wolfe	Jeffery	Male	61	PA	Nope

Volunteers

The volunteers for the 2025 running of The Ring.

Name	Role
Dan Fogg	Trail work
Paul Jacobs	Trail work
Murali Dararti	Trail work
Brett Martin	Trail work
Sheila Martin	Trail work
Ivory Lira	Trail work
Jon Jester	Trail work
Lexi DeLisle	Trail work
Larry Huffman	Trail work
Jack Nguyen	Trail work
Patrick Mannon	Trail work
Wayne Sheng	Trail work
Bob Gaylord	Trail work
Ted Bielawa	Trail work
Larry Tumblin	Milford AS
Amanda Lichy	Milford AS
Barry Hauptman	Camp Roosevelt AS
David Peppleman	Camp Roosevelt AS
Anthony Wolosik	Camp Roosevelt AS
Kevin Bligan	Camp Roosevelt AS
Jeff Best	Camp Roosevelt AS
Alisa Springman	Crisman Hollow AS
Jim Daniels	Crisman Hollow AS
Jennifer Norris	Crisman Hollow AS
Laura Turbe	Crisman Hollow AS
Jon Jester	Crisman Hollow AS
Tom Simonds	Moreland Gap AS
Larry Watson	Moreland Gap AS
Dani Sevel	Moreland Gap AS
Adam Rasmussen	Moreland Gap AS
Larry Huffman	Moreland Gap AS
Captain: Ron Ely	Edinburg Gap AS
Stan Spence	Edinburg Gap AS
Tom McNulty	Edinburg Gap AS
Jeff Best	Woodstock Tower AS
Rob Tidwell	Woodstock Tower AS
Ernie Vardaman	Woodstock Tower AS
Dannah Vardaman	Woodstock Tower AS
Sam Neakrase	Powell’s Fort AS
Nick Neakrase	Powell’s Fort AS
Carl Bligan	Powell’s Fort AS
Meaghan Burton	Powell’s Fort AS
Tracy Cooley	Signal Knob Cafe
Quatro Hubbard	Signal Knob Cafe
Adam Rasmussen	Signal Knob Cafe

Last updated September 15, 2025