Run, Lynchburg, Run
Lesley McPhatter has a collection of T-shirts from every Virginia Ten Miler dating back to 1974, when her father helped organize the first race. “I’ve been in attendance at every one since that first event,” she says. For her and her three siblings, it’s a family affair. “When I was 27, I was the only kid who hadn’t run. That was in 1992, and I was hooked. This year, I will run my 32nd race.” With the additional options of a 4+ Miler Run/Walk that starts and finishes at the same location of the Ten Miler, and the Amazing Mile Children’s Run as part of the City of Lynchburg Downtown Family Festival, the Virginia Ten Miler experience has something for everyone.
As the race celebrates its 50th anniversary this Sept. 28, it will follow the same path the Lynchburg Road Runners Club originally laid out soon after its 1973 founding. At 8 a.m., the horn sounds, and the runners proceed north on Langhorne Road before jogging a mile and a half down Farm Basket Hill—the same hill they run up to finish the race. At the five-mile mark, Riverside Park offers a glimpse of the James River. Along the way, race volunteers, local bands and the Lynchburg community spread cheer and encouragement.
McPhatter offers a tip to first-timers: “There’s a strong tendency to sprint down Farm Basket Hill, but that will ruin your day. If you go out too quick, you will pay for it later, particularly on this course.”
Lynchburg is called the Hill City for a reason, adds McPhatter. “It’s painful!” she laughs. “The race literature shows you the profile, and it doesn’t look that bad, but the last mile is basically uphill. Ninety percent of us who come up Farm Basket Hill and cross the finish line say we’re never doing it again.”
But most are like McPhatter: “It’s a legacy event I don’t want to miss—no matter how much it hurts.” In 2023, 13 percent of participants traveled 75 miles or more for the event. Thirty-three states were represented, plus Washington D.C. and the Virgin Islands. International runners hailed from five countries.
At the Downtown Lynchburg’s August First Friday event, the Lynchburg Museum will celebrate the event’s 50th anniversary with an exhibit featuring artifacts from the last five decades. An afterparty, dubbed the “11th mile,” will kick off Saturday afternoon after the Ten-Miler at downtown’s Three Roads Brewing Company.
Many runners fall in love with the Virginia Ten Miler and compete year after year. “When we made it to the 30th anniversary, there were five runners who had run in all of them,” says McPhatter.
As the Ten-Miler was gaining speed in the 80s, so was road running as a sport. Among the big-name participants were Jeff Galloway, author of The Run Walk Run Method, Frank Shorter, the American former long-distance runner who took gold and silver medals in the 1972 and 1976 summer Olympics, and Bill Rodgers, who won three straight victories in the Boston Marathon. “Runners from all over the world would come to little-old Lynchburg. One year, ESPN filmed the entire thing!”
Unlike some of the larger races, like the Boston Marathon, with about 30,000 participants, or the New York Marathon, with more than 50,000 participants, the Virgina Ten Miler usually caps participants around 3,500. “It’s nice, because you don’t have to fight your way to the start line,” McPhatter says.
The Ten-Miler’s logo, “Where Southern Hospitality Meets the Road,” has always reflected Lynchburg’s warm welcome. This year, the locally owned and operated Bella Vista Hotel is the host hotel for the event. But back in the 70s, before the days of Airbnb or VRBO—or even Lynchburg hotels—then-Race Director Rudy Stroud asked local runners to host out-of-towners.
“It started this tradition where Lynchburg families would develop long-term relationships with visiting runners,” McPhatter says. Like Anne Audain, for example, an Olympic runner from New Zealand who won the Ten Miler six times and held the women’s record until 2019. “We invited her back as a guest host in 2018, and she stayed with Marge Dillard, by then 90 years old, who’d hosted her along with her husband, a local physician, in the race’s early days.”
Bret Boman is president of the Lynchburg Road Runners Club. “When I moved to Lynchburg, it became apparent that this is the race in Lynchburg,” he says. “It didn’t matter if you were a great miler or ran a fast marathon or even ran the Charlottesville 10 Miler, the only questions you would be asked were: ‘How did you do in the 10 Miler?’ and ‘What did you think about Farm Basket Hill?’”
For three of the past four years, women runners have broken the course record to earn the course record bonus of $5,000. “Before that, the record stood for 35 years—and the men’s record has stood intact since 1981,” Boman says.
As an officially designated Runner-Friendly Community, Lynchburg boasts bike lanes, rolling hills and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Without driving more than 20 minutes from my house, I can run 20 miles on the Appalachian Trail. Within 10 miles from my office, I can run along an old railroad bed turned bike trail,” says McPhatter. “There’s something for everyone, from paved trails to dirt trails. At Liberty University, the whole side of the mountain is nothing but trails.”
In addition to the Ten Miler, The Lynchburg Road Runners Club hosts two race series each year in the spring and fall. “The spring series has about eight events—most are 5Ks in local communities,” McPhatter says.
After each Ten Miler, the organizers send out a survey to race participants. McPhatter loves combing through the 600 or so written comments. “I get chills just thinking about what people say, and how much they appreciate the community coming out. People truly feel special when they come to Lynchburg.”
