History

1976 - 42 entrants compete in the Charlottesville Track Club’s inaugural Ten Miler. Max and Jenny White (husband and wife) win the inaugural titles on the original Camp Holiday Trails course. The winning time is 59:30.

1977 - The Dogwood Festival includes the 10-Miler in its lineup for the first time.

1978 - The race has 235 entrants. UVA law student Drew Mearns sets the Holiday Trails course record with a time 50:30.

1979 - Mearns wins his third straight title.

1981 - Cynthia Lorenzoni sets the women’s course record (61:05). No woman would run faster on the old Holiday Trails course.

1982 - 390 entrants, the Ten Miler field is 80 percent male and 20 percent female.

1983 - Original race directors James and Karen Beaver lead the race for the eighth and final time.

1984 - The Charlottesville Track Club unveils the new downtown course, having police close roads to auto traffic for the first time in Charlottesville due to a race. Cynthia Lorenzoni becomes the first woman to break 60 minutes, and 16-year-old Charlie Freda sets an age group record (56:43) that still stands today.

1985 - 497 entrants, the Ten Miler has its hottest race-day temperatures—hovering around the mid-80s at the start. UVA law student Geoff Mearns, the brother of Drew, wins in 50:51. 17 year-old Susan Knowles sets an age group course record
(62:58) that still stands today.

1986 - Richard Ferguson, a UVA sports psychology student becomes the first 10-Miler runner to break 50 minutes in capturing his second title. Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter is a special guest for the races largest-ever field of 694.

1987 - John Bays, 65, and Louise Martin, 70, set age group records that still stand today with times of 77:27 and 99:49 respectively.

1988 - UVA philosophy students Gordon and Juliette Christie become the first husband and wife champions on the new city course.

1989 - The race breaks the 1,000th entrant mark for the first time with 1,415 runners. Olympian and former UVA All-American Margaret Groos runs a record-setting 54:38 and finishes eighth overall, the best finish by a woman in race history. Two men, Ken Frenette and Mike Cotton, break the 50-minute barrier for the first time.

1990 - On the coldest day in race history, three inches of snow fall on racers during 38-degree weather.

1991 - A record 63 people break 60 minutes.

1992 - Now 70, John Bays sets another standing age group record with a time of 84:03.

1993 - Olympic Marathon Champion Joan Benoit Samuelson sets the 35-39 age group record with a time of 57:19.

1995 - Mark Lorenzoni calls it a day after 12 years of directing the 10-Miler.

2000 - A record 1,911 runners cross the Ten Miler’s finish line. Jeanne Gaillo, 38, becomes the oldest women’s winner with a time of 63:44.

2002 - Burkhard Spiekermann, 44, places in the top 10 for the fifth time.

2003 - The10-Miler hits 2,000 entrants and donates $20,000 to Blue Ridge Food Bank.

2006 - Dana Coons is the first female champion under one hour (59:53) since Olympic Marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson’s 57:19 victory in 1993. Jeff Eggleston (51:50) runs the fastest men’s time since Travis Walter’s victory in 2000.
Eighty- year-old Rev. Wendell Golden breaks new ground as the Ten Miler’s only octogenarian finisher (1:55:52).

2007 - Andrea Wright, 45, becomes the oldest winner in the Ten Miler’s history. Her two second victory over Eliza O’Connell, 36, represents the closet Ten Miler finish ever. Nancy Fraser, 70, becomes the first women to win outright an entire age group. She defeated both the women and men.

2008 - A record field of 2,525 entrants.

2009 - PACEM is the beneficiary.

2010 - Record number of finishers - 2,342. Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Emergency Food Bank, and Meals on Wheels are the beneficiaries.

2011 - Camp Holiday Trails is the beneficiary.

2012 - A record amount of money was raised for UVA Lung Cancer Research in honor of past CTC president, long time volunteer, and member Carol Finch.

2013 - The Senior Center is the beneficiary.

2014 - Barrett Early Learning Center is the beneficiary.

2015 - Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA) is the benficiary.

2016 - SARA is the beneficiary.

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PAST RACE DIRECTORS

James and Karen Beaver (1976-1983)
Mark Lorenzoni and David Murphy (1984-1995)
Adam Slate (1996-1998)
Maria Bell (1999-2001)
C.J.Woodburn (2002-2005)
Alice and Dan Wiggins (2006-2010)
Mike Inge (2011-2013)
Maria Bell (2014)
Debra Gilbert (2015-2016)
Nicole Brimer (2017-2022)
​Nicole Brimer and Karen Murray (2023)
Karen Murray (2024-2025)