The Ring

There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

The Ring

The Ring is a circuit of the entire 71-mile orange-blazed Massanutten Trail in the George Washington National Forest, on the ridgelines of the eastern and western ranges of the Massanutten Mountains around the Fort Valley, situated roughly between the towns of Front Royal and Luray. The “trail” is hard, rocky, and slow. Sections of the trail have been around for centuries, but the entire, uninterrupted, 71-mile Massanutten Trail was not completed until 2002.

Even before the trail could be officially dedicated in the summer of 2002, Chris Scott convinced a reluctant Anstr Davidson that they had to be the first to run the entire Massanutten Trail. Having beaten others to the glory of christening the trail when they completed that initial circuit run in April of that year, Anstr and Chris were then kind enough to serve as the hosts for the first organized running of The Ring in the fall of 2002 (for others foolish enough not to heed their warnings that a sane person would not really want to do this run). Over the next four years the Lords of The Ring continued to induct new members into the Fellowship of the Ring. After a one-year sabbatical in 2006, The Ring returned in search of more victims, but under two new Ring Leaders. Chris and Anstr passed the burden on to Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard, who remained in charge of this Flying Circus until 2024. Daisy Weill and Lauren Gabler are now in charge; look for them to bring new energy and direction to correct the erroneous ways of the boys who preceded them.

The Ring is a typical fat ass run in that there are no entry fees, no significant awards, and no t-shirts. The support from this run comes from the generous sponsorship of the VHTRC, and the often over-the-top generosity of the incredible cadre of club volunteers who turn out to help. Entrants in other Fat Ass events are generally admonished that there will be no wimps and no whiners. In this instance, just choosing to start The Ring proves you are not a wimp, and everyone whines at the end. And we mean EVERYONE! We would be disappointed if it appeared as though the runners were actually having fun. So when it gets to be your turn to whine about how badly Signal Knob sucks, or how much you loathe rocks, spiders, bugs, humidity, heat, etc., try to be at least a little bit creative.

The Course

A public route on Strava using The Ring .gpx file

There will be some aid at the Milford Gap crossing of the trail (mile 13.3). This will be mostly a water pit stop for the runners. The biggest mistake runners make is getting behind in their fluids early, so take full advantage of this water stop in the middle of the opening 25-mile stretch of The Ring. Seriously. This means YOU!! So many runners over the years have failed to keep up with their fluids (and calories, but mostly fluids) during these morning hours while sailing along the beautiful eastern ridge of the Massanuttens. They then find themselves in a fatal deficit by the time they pull into Roosevelt (or Crisman or Moreland on down the trail). Do not be shy in tanking up at Milford! And do not forget to thank the wonderful volunteers who hike all that aid up a rocky access trail to make it available to you.

The first full aid station, where you will encounter your roving runner bag, will be at Camp Roosevelt at mile 25, so plan accordingly. The other official checkpoints are listed below, and if all goes according to plan, your runner bag will be waiting for you at each of them (through Woodstock). We will not shuttle your bag to the last aid station at Powells Fort Camp, but instead will return it to the finish at Signal Knob directly from the aid station at Woodstock. Plan accordingly!

One VERY important note about the aid station at Camp Roosevelt: it is NOT on the orange trail! The Massanutten Trail, after it descends from Kennedy Peak and also from a lovely view at the top of Route 675 at Edith Gap, emerges from a horse parking lot back on to the paved Route 675. While the trail crosses the road to continue into Duncan Hollow, you will need to follow some streamers down the road about 150 yards or so and then in to the aid station, which is set up under a large wooden shelter adjacent to the Camp Roosevelt camp grounds. After you finish with your visit to the Camp Roosevelt aid station, you will then run back up the road that roughly 150 yard distance to pick up the trailhead on what will now be on the right-hand side of the road. Do NOT miss this aid station! Your .gpx track should lead you into it, but again, follow those streamers down and back up the road for your aid.

There are three hard cut-offs at The Ring. The first is at Moreland Gap (mile 40.7), which you need to leave before 9:30 pm to continue the run with our support. The second is at Edinburg (mile 48.7), where you need to be out by 1:30 am. The final enforced cut-off is at Woodstock (mile 56.9, and last runner bag aid station), at 6:00 am. We hope that these cut-offs will put you on pace to get through Powells Fort Camp before 8:00 am and then on to the finish before noon on Sunday (a 29 hour pace for the 71 miles). These cut-offs are put in place for the benefit of the run volunteers, and they will be strictly enforced. While there are no hard cut-offs at the earlier aid stations, runners who have successfully made the formal cut-offs and finished the run should expect to make their way through Camp Roosevelt prior to 3:30 pm and through Crisman Hollow Road at the southern end of the course before 7:30 pm.

Drop bags

Each runner will be allowed a single, well-marked runner bag, which will be collected prior to the start in the parking lot. This bag should be in the style of a gym bag or backpack. By “well-marked” we mean PUT YOUR NAME ON IT. ON THE OUTSIDE. On something that will be be visible to volunteers in the aid station. Using a method of marking that will stay attached to your bag. This means YOU! Sigh - don’t be that person this year!

Please do not use another type of “bag” such as a hard container or a cobbled-together plastic or trashbag. The latter can be easily confused by someone shuttling aid as literal trash, and then not make its way out of their vehicle and to the aid station. Please try to keep the size of your runner bag within reason. Make sure that it will also reliably and easily seal so that the contents remain in your bag during transport. And did we mention that it should have your name clearly marked on it?

We will shuttle that single bag around the course for you. You will not see it at Milford Gap (the first aid) nor at Powell’s Fort Camp (the last aid station). But you should see it at every aid station in between, and then around the Signal Knob Café at the finish line, where you will want to retrieve it and put it back in your vehicle. After you make use of your drop bag at any particular aid station, and once you know you are done with it, please do NOT put it back with the other drop bags, but instead make a point of giving it to a volunteer. That way we can ensure it is included in the next volunteer shuttle out of that aid station and on to the next.

PATC Maps

Unless you know the course well, we recommend that you obtain Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) map G. These are topographic maps that cover the trails in the Massanutten Mountains north of US 211) and are printed on water-resistant, tear-resistance synthetic stock in six colors.

You can order on the PATC Web site.

• Map G (2014)
• Guide Set — PATC Map G, map H, and a guidebook.

Map G is also available at REI.

Other resources

• Reports by Chris and Anstr on their inaugural April 2002 run
• Kimba Love-Ottobre’s 2015 blog post: How to Run “The Ring”

Jim Harris continues in his role as the historian for The Ring and the Reverse Ring. His file with accumulated historic data can be viewed from the “Historical Data” link on the left side of this page. Jim helpfully provides the following synopsis of the results from The Ring and Reverse Ring (through the end of 2023):

“These Numbers are suspect …
421 runners have been out to Fort Valley to run our favorite Orange Loop.
Those 421 Runners have accumulated 61,112 miles.
119 have never finished the loop, with 147 total failed attempts for those individuals.
153 have never failed, with 60 of them having more than one finish.
11 individuals have been there 10 or more times.”

Heather Dougherty has also shared a Ring & Reverse Ring Results Google Sheet, with several tabs that display some interesting charts and raw data, for those of who love to wallow in that much more information about our favorite Orange Trail!

Entry

Those Pesky Qualifications

Entry is strictly limited to only those who meet the qualifications detailed below. Seriously. We check. So please don’t try to enter if you don’t meet these basic qualifications. This is a very challenging, unmarked run, and it is in no way the kind of events that someone fairly new to ultra trail racing in rocky, mountainous conditions should undertake. At least not under our watch!

In order to enter The Ring, you will need to demonstrate that you are “qualified” to run in this event. A runner who is already a member of The Fellowship obviously meets this requirement. Otherwise, we are just looking for runners to fall into one of the following two simple categories in order to gain entry into The Ring:

• Completion of a trail 50 miler AND recent experience on the Massanutten trails (e.g. “Massanutten Training Academy” MMT 100 training runs).
  or
• Completion of any 100-mile run.

Backcountry experience and the ability to read a map would be helpful since there will be no ribbons or glow sticks to follow, just the “native” trail markings (i.e. those orange-painted blazes on the trees). Carrying a course description and the PATC Map G is highly advisable (see link below). And if you are not downloading the gpx file as your first reference point to ensure that you stay on course, then what are we even doing here? Do NOT take this run for granted! Don’t be that person who thinks “how hard can this be? Follow those orange blazes around the valley for 71 miles - piece of cake!” If you are that person, carry extra provisions and water with you, and make sure your cell phone is full charged, so that when you do get off course, then you won’t suffer too badly or for too long.

Entry

For a few years, The Ring utilized a lottery. In more recent years, a lottery was ultimately not needed. For this year’s run, entry will again be on a first come, first punished basis (with entry still subject to review, to ensure that Those Pesky Qualifications have been met prior to approval).

If you decide that you will not be participating in The Ring after you have entered, let Daisy and Lauren know, so that they can remove your name from the entrants’ list. This helps with the final planning for run weekend.

Volunteer

Anyone interested in volunteering at The Ring should contact Lauren and Daisy – they would love to have your help. They are specifically seeking volunteers to handle the following roles during the run:

1. To head up each of the aid stations along the course
2. At least one additional volunteer at each aid station for clipboard and other support (and preferably more than one at each)
3. At least two “roving aid” volunteers, who will leave each aid station one and then two hours after the lead runner with drops bags.
4. A night-time “rover” to help with shuttling not only late bags, but runners who have dropped at the later aid stations.
5. Extra hands in particular to help with the Milford hike-in aid station, and the Signal Knob Café at the finish line, are especially appreciated. The former because many gallons of liquids have to make that 10+ minute hike up a rough trail to the aid station location; the latter because it is open from early evening on Saturday until as late as noon on Sunday, and those overnight hours work out better for all with several folks sharing the responsibility of being awake to greet the runners.

Volunteers - 2023

The Fellowship of The Ring

The Fellowship of The Ring — those who have previously completed The Ring — currently consists of 266 members. Previously, the best part of being a member of The Fellowship was that, unless you were the first finisher the year before, you were not eligible to run The Ring again. That original rule prohibiting recidivism has been eliminated. If you have run The Ring in previous years, you are now welcome to come back and inflict all of this punishment on yourself again. Though based on the reactions to their experience, many runners clearly wish that they could once again be formally prohibited from ever running The Ring again.

The selective amnesia of most trail runners is an amazing thing to behold. Virtually every finisher touches on these three themes before they drift off to sleep after completing their 71-mile run: the aid stations and volunteers were great; the finishing descent down Signal Knob sucks; and thank goodness that this is done, so that I never have to do it again. Yet somehow many do return to beat themselves up on the rocky Massanutten Trail yet again.

Now the best part of being in The Fellowship is that only its members are eligible to run the Reverse Ring in late February, when they can become a Master of The Ring. So plan ahead for 2025! Get this prerequisite course completed in 2024 so that you will be eligible to come back and play on the same beautiful trail in the middle of the winter, which is when it really shines.

A final, and special note: there are to date only two “Bad A** M-F’ers of The Ring;” two runners who took on the Ultimate Ring Challenge. Cam Baker and Kathleen Cusick have both successfully completed The Double Ring. This involved heading off on Friday to do the Reverse Ring, followed by finishing in time to join their compatriots for The Ring at the usual 7 AM start time on the Saturday. Both then finished The Ring, capping off their 140+ mile weekend journeys in both directions around the Fort Valley on the orange-blazed Massanutten Trail.