Jon Lugbill: The man behind the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K race

RICHMOND, Va. — Many Richmonders have either participated, watched or know someone that's taken part in the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K.

There was a time when people didn't think an event like that would work in Richmond. One man, Jon Lugbill, refused to take no for an answer.

Lugbill was stunned that such an event didn't exist when he relocated to Central Virginia three decades ago.

"When I first moved to Richmond, I was like, why isn't there a race here? And the Richmond Road Runners said, 'Oh, it costs too much, so you'd have to close the roads. It'd be really expensive,' And for years, that would like, stop me from doing anything more with it," Lugbill said.

But the idea was an itch that couldn't be scratched. Lugbill had seen what similar events had done for other communities and he was convinced it could do the same thing for Richmond.

"There were two huge races which still exist, the Peach Tree Road race in Atlanta and the Boulder 10K out in Boulder, Colorado, that were signature events for their communities," he explained. "With some of the largest running events in the united states. And right away, like in my sponsorship letter to Bobby Ukrop that very first year, I said, 'We want to create a signature running event like those two here in Richmond, and we want to do it here on Monument Avenue,' So, we had pretty grand vision for this right from the get-go."

The length of 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, was strategically chosen to showcase the entirety of Monument Avenue within the city limits. It has provided not just a seminal event for the region, but it's made the 804 healthier than it's ever been.

"About 10% more Richmond in our region live actively than they did back then," Lugbill said. "So when you're talking 1.3 million people, that's like 130,000 more people are being active than they would have been otherwise. And, and the 10K is probably the biggest driver of that. There's lots of things that help drive that, but everything we do at sports backers, but the 10K is probably the biggest vehicle."

For all it's positives and pride, before 2025, Lugbill hadn't run the race before.

"I'm gonna do it this year. They are doing a special extension. I've always had to work, and I've I've been able to do it all these years, but, but I've been working. So this year I'm actually going to run it," he told CBS 6.

And run he did. For the first time as a participant, Lugbill got to see his creation the way so many other have. He can now have even more pride in his creation, which has put Richmond on the map in a way nothing had before.

"People really feel like it's their race, and it's something they not only support through volunteering or sponsoring, but when they take part, they tell others about it in the community. They tell others in other parts of Virginia and around the United States. So when you do it right, it becomes this part of who we are," he said. "I'm not setting any kind of, you know, personal goal on time. I'm actually going to be more out there to be supportive of everybody, helping put it on and and really just be part of the community that's taken part."

While he vowed to enjoy the experience as much as he could, the competitor in Lugbill, who is a former Olympian, wanted him to finish with the best time possible.

He completed his first 10K in 51 minutes and 34 seconds, coming in 32nd in his age group.