Tour the SunTrust Richmond Marathon course

By 1elcoley

Published: September 25, 2008

Slideshow
SportsBacker’s Scott Schricker: ‘Why Richmond is America’s Friendliest Marathon‘

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Highlights from the 2007 SunTrust Richmond Marathon & nTelos 8k

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Running the 26.2 miles of a marathon course is a challenge, but runners can make it easier on themselves by getting to know the course.

“I think we’ve made the course really fair,“ Scott Schricker, marketing director for the Richmond Sports Backers, the organizers of the marathon since 1997. “There’s some nice rolling hills, but the best part is you’re seeing the best of Richmond.“

Let’s tour the Richmond Marathon course, starting at the new Federal Courthouse and The National theater at 7th & Broad streets in downtown Richmond.

The course is flat the first couple of miles headed northwest on Broad Street through the Jackson Ward District before passing the Carver neighborhood and Virgina Commonwealth University‘s Monroe Park campus.

Savor the spicy aroma of the C.F. Sauer Company before passing the Science Museum of Virginia and Children’s Museum of Richmond in Mile 3. Next is historic Monument Avenue where you’ll see General "Stonewall" Jackson, explorer Matthew Fontaine Maury and humanitarian and tennis champion Arthur Ashe Jr.

In Mile 6, the course run through the very scenic Grove Avenue and Westhampton neighborhoods before a long downhill run on River Road in Mile 7 alongside the Country Club of Virginia.

After crossing the Huguenot Bridge, the most scenic portion of the course comes in Miles 9 and 10 along Riverside Drive on the south side of the James River. The course passes Huguenot Flatwater Park, the Z-Dam at Williams Island and a lovely stretch at Pony Pasture Rapids Park before a long climb in the quiet Stratford Hills neighborhood in Mile 11.

“Running along Riverside Drive, where you’re running right along the James River which is just this beautiful, peaceful portion of the course,“ Schricker said.

The course crosses the Powhite Parkway on Forest Hill Avenue in Mile 12 and there is a long uphill climb before hitting the halfway point in the Westover Hills neighborhood. There are many rolling hills as the course passes scenic Forest Hill Park and heads into the Woodland Heights neighborhood and Semmes Avenue in Mile 15.

The Robert E. Lee Bridge is long and runners are exposed to the elements high above the James River.

“Depending on the weather, the Lee Bridge certainly can be a challenge,“ Schricker said. Coming across the Lee Bridge, if it’s a headwind or a crosswind it can be pretty unforgiving and you’ll see a lot of people trying to draft across the bridge.  You’ve got as much of a chance of having a nice day as you do of having a windy day.“

The views of the downtown skyline and the river are tough to beat. Look to the left for Belle Isle and Hollywood Cemetery. To the right, the downtown skyline with Brown’s Island and the Tredegar Civil War sites closest in view.

The course passes the Virginia War Memorial and Oregon Hill in Mile 17 before turning at Monroe Park and the VCU Campus, passing the historic Landmark Theater and heading through the Uptown neighborhood on the southern edge of The Fan District on Main Street.

In Mile 19, the Boulevard is scenic but busy and the course passes the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Virginia Historical Society before heading toward the Northside on the Boulevard.

Wave to General A.P. Hill (yes, he’s interred under the monument) as you pass by at Laburnum Avenue on Hermitage Road in Mile 21.

The marathon course loops through the Bellevue and Ginter Park neighborhoods in the Northside, heading past Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Mile 23 on Brook Road.

The course takes a new path to get through the last two miles, turning south on Lombardy Street and passing Virginia Union University and the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School before re-entering the Carver neighborhood in Mile 25.

The course crosses Broad Street one last time before turning left at Grace Street and into the VCU Monroe Park Campus again as we head back downtown through Monroe Ward.

The course turns right on 3rd Street at the Richmond Times-Dispatch building in Mile 26 and left again on Cary Street for the downhill finish at Cary and 9th Street in front of the James Center.  GOOD LUCK!