RICHMOND, Va. Abner Clay Park was the main gathering spot on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as Run Richmond 16.19 came back for its fifth year. The Djimon Hounsou Foundation put on the event — the only cultural run of its kind in the United States. Max Plank, the foundation’s program director and the race’s main coordinator, ran the weekend. It was a beautiful day filled with joy and unity.
The park is where the day actually happened. Participants exercised and warmed up together on the grass at Abner Clay Park before the signature 16.19-kilometer run and the family 8K. They stretched in one field, arms out, then used the same park as the start, the finish, and the festival floor. The banner over the line named the charge: Celebrating Unity in Diversity. Kelli Lemon worked the start, mic in hand, keeping the crowd loud as runners lined up to go.
Runners came from all over the country, including Los Angeles, Connecticut, South Florida, and Michigan. Richmond Mayor Danny Avula participated. Professional triathlete Sika Henry participated. Black Girls RUN! founder Jay Ell Alexander was there and participated with hundreds of other Black Girls RUN! members. The Black Men Run club was there too, under its banner on the grass.
Hounsou spent part of the morning making the case for why the day exists beyond a finish time — he pointed to the historical education at the center of his foundation's mission, the same message he carried into the race's audio guide and museum programming. Jay Ell Alexander made her own case alongside him, framing Black Girls RUN!'s presence at Abner Clay Park as a health and unity moment for Black women first, a race second.
The museum next to the park
A lot of the runners also prepped at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, at https://blackhistorymuseum.org/, across from Abner Clay Park in Jackson Ward. The museum hosted several events leading up to the run, including the press conference. On race day the gathering stayed at the park. The museum was the partner house next door, not the main meeting place.
The 16.19-kilometer distance writes 1619 into the course — the year the first enslaved Africans arrived in English North America. In 2026 the race was the official race partner of Black Girls RUN!’s Sweat With Your Sole National Conference and a commemorative partner of Virginia 250.
Especially successful for VUU
The weekend was especially successful for several Virginia Union University students and faculty. Students Brayden Kaminski, Mekhi McGainey, Destiny Douglass, and King Shepard covered the event from Abner Clay Park. They were joined by Hollee Freeman, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and adjunct professor Jasmine Turner, and Mass Communications professor Christopher "CJ" Nurse. Freeman and Turner did not just work the story — they laced up and ran or walked the course themselves.
Those students interviewed Djimon Hounsou, Jay Ell Alexander, and Miss Black USA 2026 Harmony Edosomwan.
They also took photographs and video to cover the event — interviews, crowd shots, and the warmup on the park grass. Destiny Douglass flew the drone. King Shepard worked a camera on the festival field. Kaminski put Hounsou on the record in the festival area, then kept the mic on other runners through the day, including Jay Ell Alexander.
Turner finished the course herself, medal around her neck, before the VUU desk caught up with her in the festival area.
Abner Clay Park held all of it: the start Kelli Lemon hyped, the warmup, the clubs, the VUU desk, and the finish. Readers can find the event hub at https://www.runrichmond1619.org/, Black Girls RUN! at https://blackgirlsrun.com/about/, and Black Men Run at https://blackmenrun.com/.
Why this matters: Abner Clay Park is where Richmond gathered for a national Black cultural race, and VUU students were there with cameras and microphones. An HBCU covering 1619 from the park next to the museum is how the city, the clubs, and the campus share the same record.