On the Move

After 31 years of service, Sports Backers' Executive Director, Jon Lugbill, announced his plan to retire at the end of June 2025. We sat down with Jon to get his thoughts on why now is the right time and what he's looking forward to as he ends his chapter at Sports Backers.

The Allianz Partners Richmond Marathon tries to cater to all our participants and a huge part of that is our pace teams! This week Nan & Kam talk with Karen McCarthy, the pace team coordinator, and Steven Kim, who paced the race last year. Hear all about the mindset of a pacer, how you can join a team, and how you can volunteer to make someone's race day goals come true! 

President's Council is Sports Backers' young professional group. It's an awesome way to socialize, network, volunteer, and meet other active people in Richmond who are passionate about inspiring active living. Nan & Kam talk with the chair of President's Council, Desiree Tunnell, about how she got involved, why she loves it, and why you should join too! 

Sports Backers is celebrating the kick off of our Active Living Leadership ALL Stars program! We work with 21 rising senior student-athletes throughout the year to teach them more about leadership and how active living can play a role within their communities. Nan & Kam talked to the program leader, Jacki Quinlan, about all things ALL Stars and what she's looking forward to this year.

It's that time of year! Temps are already slightly cooler and kids are going back to school. Nan & Kam chat with Leigh Busby of Greater Richmond Fit4Kids about how best to transition kids back to a schedule and all the great programming they have throughout Richmond schools. Hear about how they're making healthy habits accessible for all and their upcoming Fun Fest!

The Ashland Half & 5k is next Saturday and we brought in Event Director, Mara George, and Sports Backers Marathon Training Team Coach Chris Mason to tell us why it's summer's hottest half! Whether you're running Richmond in the fall  and want a tune up, or just looking for a quaint little 5k, this could be your next race! 

You might've heard the Sports Backers Half Marathon Training Team starts this weekend! We sat down with head coach Cheryl Groce-Wright (and RVA Sports Awards Coach of the Year) to go over all the training details. There's still time to join the team, so listen and see if it's the right fit for you!

Richmond loves their run clubs! This week Nan & Kam sit down with Josh Leidy, one of the leaders of 804 Run Club that meets at Hardywood. Learn more about how inclusive and encouraging 804 Run Club is and how you can get involved! We gotta throw in a little fun Olympics aside too obviously!

We're joined by Jaide Hinds-Clark, a former women's basketball standout at the University of Richmond who now resides in Richmond with her wife (and soon to be baby!). Jaide got into running to stay in shape and be part of a community, and she soon found one in We Off The Couch. Hear about what the run club has meant to her and all the other ways she's helping to improve RVA as a whole!

We visited Richmond Animal Care & Control (RACC) to learn more about their RACC Runners program that pairs volunteers with dogs for recreational runs. Lydia Worden from RACC joins us at the shelter and introduces us to some top notch puppers. Watch this one! The beginning is a shelter visit with some heavy hitting dog reporting, and then we head back to the studio with Lydia for all the info on how you can get involved.