2025 Report

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 for this event: 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

• Race report from Karen Wille
• Race report from Betsy Lyons
• Race video from Robert Pawlak

Click here for our shared photo album!

Note on 2025 results: we seem to have misplaced aid station results from Milford Gap and Camp Roosevelt. So sorry about that - we’ll do better next year!

Photos

Other reports

• The Culinary Tour of The Ring, by Karen Wille

Results

See below Results table with the 35 finishers for the Splits for all 52 runners; and then below that table you will find the list of the volunteers who put on the 2025 event.

Splits

Aid Stations Reported in 2025:
Crisman Hollow Road: Mile 34.4
Moreland Gap: Mile 40.7
Edinburg Gap: Mile 48.7
Woodstock Tower: Mile 56.9

Volunteers

The volunteers for the 2025 running of The Ring.