Sports Backers Blog
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Richmond women begin to organize around biking.
Wednesday, October 29th
The Bike Walk RVA team attended RideRichmond's Richmond Women's Cycling Summit last week, and here are Bike Walk RVA's intern Rachel Jordan's thoughts about the event! Why do we like to ride bikes? For fun, exercise, community, to be able to eat whatever we want—the reasons are endless. Last night [10/23] we talked about the…
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Local Grants Support Kids Run RVA and Call Federal Marathon, Jr. Participants
Wednesday, October 22nd
Thanks in part to a recent grant from the Altria Companies Employee Community Fund (ACECF), the Sports Backers’ Kids Run RVA program is able to support 28 elementary and middle schools this fall to initiate run clubs and encourage weekly physical activity. Many of these children will be participating in the Call Federal Marathon, Jr.…
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Prescribing Exercise Gains Momentum
Tuesday, October 21st
Here's the second blog post from the Sports Backers executive director Jon Lugbill. Enjoy! This past weekend I was invited to speak at a medical training session for area nurses and physicians. The “Rhythm in Richmond 6” event was hosted by the Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists at the Jefferson Hotel. I was a little nervous because my…
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Richmond streets on the way to becoming more Complete!
Tuesday, October 21st
Before talking about complete streets, let's talk a little about incomplete streets. Pick a street in your area that is prioritized for moving motor vehicles. Moving them in quickly, storing them for indeterminate lengths of time in on-street parking spaces, and getting them out again. Have you tried to walk across one of these streets,…
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Behind the Scenes with Jon Lugbill
Thursday, October 16th
Jon Lugbill here (also known as the Executive Director for the Sports Backers). I'm happy to welcome you to my first blog post. I’m sure I will get better at it as we go along. I hope this becomes an opportunity for you to see what we are working on at Sports Backers and potentially get…
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Second batch of Richmond bike/ped counts wrap up!
Tuesday, October 14th
Many thanks to every one of our volunteers who helped make the Richmond Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project possible. The results of our second count are in! We appreciate your time and effort; the data you collected is invaluable to us. The high rate of volunteerism for a project like this just goes to show…
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Bike Walk RVA Academy off to a strong start.
Monday, October 13th
The Bike Walk RVA Academy has begun! This week we are preparing for the third workshop out of eight for our 20 participants learning to be top-notch bike and pedestrian infrastructure advocates. During our application period in August and September, over 65 high-quality and highly motivated folks from around the Richmond region applied, and it…
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Middle schoolers struggle with biking and walking on Forest Hill Ave
Tuesday, October 7th
Bike Route 1 is a great amenity for recreational road bicycling in the Richmond region. Its general concurrence with Riverside Drive on the south bank of the James River in Richmond is a popular route for bike enthusiasts. We even featured it in our Martin's Tour of Richmond with positive reception. But while it is…
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Bike lanes currently being installed on Forest Hill Ave!
Monday, September 29th
The construction of bike lanes on Forest Hill Avenue and Semmes Avenue, which will connect crossings of the James River at both Westover Hills Boulevard and Cowardin Avenue, has begun! Construction will continue for at least the next few weeks, as the Semmes Avenue portion is a separate construction project. Bike symbol stencils are also…
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Buffered bike lanes on MLK Viaduct completed!
Tuesday, September 23rd
Buffered bike lanes, or bike lanes separated from motor vehicle traffic by several feet of painted space, have been installed on the Martin Luther King Viaduct between Union Hill/Church Hill and the MCV area of downtown Richmond. Please take a moment and click here to thank Mayor Jones and the staff of the Department of…