What you’ll see on the 8k course

By 1elcoley

Published: September 24, 2008

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

Check our photos
Highlights from the 2007 SunTrust Richmond Marathon & nTelos 8k

SNAP IT! Post your photos and see photos of reacreation around town.

The nTelos 8K race starts at 7 a.m. in downtown Richmond at 7th & Broad streets and ends on a downhill slope at Cary and 9th Street in front of the James Center. According to the Richmond Sports Backers, the race organizers, it is expected to draw 6,000 entries.

The nTelos 8k course has course has changes in the second half of the run, beginning with the turn off Broad Street.  In recent years, the course turned at Davis Avenue, passing the Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue before turning back toward downtown on Hanover Street.  This year, the course turns left two blocks further west on Mulberry street and turns left one block later on Grace Street, heading back toward the VCU Monroe Park Campus in the Fan District.

Learn more about the neighborhoods, attractions and historic sites you’ll see along the way and maybe you’ll have something to help you distract yourself from the long run ahead on the big day.

THE COURSE
• START:  between 8th and 9th Streets on Broad St., on the east side of the library.
• Travel West on Broad Street.
• MILE 1 POST:  NW corner of Gilmore and Broad streets.
• MILE 2 POST:  2200 block of W. Broad St.; left of the front entrance of the Dept. of Taxation building.
• Left onto Mulberry Street.
• Left onto Grace Street.
• MILE 3 POST:  right corner of house #1815 Grace St.
• MILE 4 POST:  on Grace St. west of Madison St.; center of the driveway to the parking lot across the street from the front door of 300 W. Grace St.
• Right onto 3rd Street.
• Left onto Cary Street.
• FINISH:  on Cary St. east of 9th Street. 

More information: http://www.richmondmarathon.com

WHAT YOU SEE
In Mile 1
The National, at 7th and East Broad streets, opened with much fanfare in 1923. It became a part of the then-thriving downtown theater scene. Touring vaudeville acts of the era performed on its stage. It reopened in 2007 and is a premier concert venue for the Richmond area. More: 704 E. Broad St., Richmond, VA, 23219 Call: (757) 622-9877

The new Federal Courthouse is across the street and scheduled for completion soon.

Greater Richmond Convention Center, 403 North 3rd Street. The 700,000-square-foot facility sits on 5 1/2 city blocks.

Jackson Ward will be at the right behind the storefronts and apartment fronts along Broad Street, starting at the Greater Richmond Convention Center and running west to Belvidere. Jackson Ward is one of Richmond’s most historic neighborhoods. Bill “Bojangles” Robinson danced there, Duke Ellington played there, and generations of African-Americans worked in what was once called “The Wall Street of Black America” because of its many banks.

In Mile 2
The Carver neighborhood, also called Sheep Hill, lies north of Broad Street to the west of Jackson Ward and downtown Richmond. Carver was first settled by blue-collar Jewish and German tradesmen, and became a thriving black community in the early 1900s before being cut through by major thoroughfares such as Jefferson Davis Highway. Belvidere Street and I-95.
[Credit: en.wikipedia.org]

Virginia Commonwealth University: Two campuses in downtown Richmond the Monroe Park campus and the Medical College of Virginia campus. Undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral programs. The hospitals, clinics and health sciences schools comprise the VCU Medical Center. Call: 827-2000 Website: vcu.edu

Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad Street, is housed in the former Broad Street Station railroad terminal. Permanent hands-on exhibits focus on such things as aerospace, astronomy, crystals, physics, perception and computers. It was built 1917-1919. Info: 864-1400 or www.smv.org.

Children’s Museum, 2626 W. Broad Street. An interactive, hands-on museum with age-appropriate activities for newborns to children age 12. Info: 474-CMOR or www.c-mor.org.

In Mile 3
The Fan District: Boundaries west side of Belvidere, the south side of West Broad Street and north side of West Main street and the east side of North Boulevard. Turn-of-the-century townhouses line streets that spread in fan shape. Website: www.fandistrict.org

In Mile 4
Monroe Ward
District Boundaries: Belvidere to 5th Street and Broad Street to Canal Street. The district west of Capitol Square and south of Broad Street once contained some of the finest residential streets in Richmond. The remaining mansions along Frankins, Grace and Main Streets are evidence of the former grand neighborhood.
[Credit: www.historicrichmond.com]

In Mile 5
The course finishes at 9th and Cary streets at the James Center.  There are three statues of note in that area:
» “Wind Up“ statue at 9th & East Cary Streets in the western entrance to the James Center Complex.
» “Corporate Presence“ statue at 9th & East Cary Streets in the western entrance to the James Center Complex.
» “Boatman’s Tower“ statue on 10th & Cary Streets.