Justin Richmond received his first BMX bicycle right before he turned 5 years old. He almost immediately began racing in local competitions around the Rockford area, and only one year after owning his bicycle, Richmond was competing at BMX events around the nation.

Richmond’s BMX career has taken him to nearly every state in the country, and some of his most memorable experiences have come from riding internationally in places such as Colombia and the United Kingdom. Richmond currently races for the Marian University cycling team, and the college junior has already achieved much since joining the program, helping the university win two national championships over his first two years with the team.

“It’s been great,” Richmond said. “I’ve known many of the people on the cycling team since I was about 6 years old and it’s cool to be able to go to school and race alongside everybody I grew up with. The program has been amazing because I get to do what I love and I can also pursue my academic goals so I can get ready for my future.”

Richmond competed in two sports throughout his time at Rochelle Township High School, spending three years with both the Hub wrestling team and the track and field program. He remained active in BMX during high school, and he said both wrestling and track helped improve his riding abilities before making the jump to the college level.

“Playing sports definitely helped me out,” Richmond said. “Wrestling is an individual sport and your mental strength has to be up there… The person with greater mental strength is going to win the match… I sprinted during track and I think that correlates to BMX because you’re only on the track for 35-to-45 seconds during a typical BMX race. I really developed my conditioning and my leg strength doing both of those sports.” 

Richmond was in his junior year of high school when he was recognized at a competition by a racing sponsor who also coached the Marian University cycling team. He was unsure at the time whether or not he wanted to pursue racing in college or stay closer to home, but his combined passion for BMX and exercise science motivated him to continue his academic and athletic careers at the university.

“Being able to ride my bike and pursue my academic path were what made Marian the best choice for me,” Richmond said. “I figured Marian would be the best bet for me to be with other individuals who were like-minded.”

Richmond’s interest in exercise science began around the time he first took up BMX. He grew up doing bodyweight workouts and plyometric training, and he signed up for a conditioning course when he arrived at RTHS. He said his goal is to earn a degree in exercise science from Marian in order to pursue a chiropractic career. He also said he wants to become a certified strength and conditioning coach.

“I chose to go into conditioning when I was a freshman and I fell in love with weight training,” Richmond said. “I got my membership at Anytime Fitness in Rochelle and I started lifting a lot more frequently. I just fell in love with exercising and helping others in the weight room.”

Richmond will be aiming to help the Marian cycling team win its seventh consecutive national cycling championships when he begins his junior season this coming year. He said competing in BMX has boosted his mental toughness, and he also said he likes to read the sports psychology book “Mind Gym” to stay sharp before competitions.

“BMX requires a lot of mental strength,” Richmond said. “You can work out all the time and go to the track and work on your skills, but during race time, whoever has the most mental strength is going to win the race… I try to build a foundation so I can have a consistent mind set during competitions, because if you don’t have confidence in your racing abilities, the race is already over for you.”