With organizer Joel Imburg in the lead, James River Hikers Meetup group participants hustle up the stairs at Jefferson Park. (Photo by Jay Paul)
They gather on Monday and Thursday evenings outside Bottoms Up Pizza, but the fitness-focused hikers who take part in the Urban Stair Climb have to shed hundreds of calories before they can earn a cheesy slice.
The Urban Stair Climbing Hike has been a biweekly feature for over a decade. The walkers, who are members of the James River Hikers Meetup group, cover 5.1 miles at a blistering pace up and down some of the most challenging historic stairways in the Church Hill area of Richmond.
Organizer Joel Imburg from Bon Air in Chesterfield County may have climbed more steps than anyone else in Richmond, but he lost count a long time ago. The retired social worker has climbed 950 stairs twice a week with the group since August 2017. He also often does the hike alone and climbs 1,250 steps. “I’ve been doing them pretty much daily. I like the challenge. I always feel so good afterward, so relaxed. You get the endorphins going,” he says.
Imburg sets a fast pace. It’s a far cry from the first time he joined the walk six years ago. “I didn’t think I was going to do it a second time, it was so hard,” he says. Even then, the Urban Stair Climb was a fixture. It was set up by Pam Thompson, a former member of James River Hikers, more than a decade ago. Today, the hike attracts up to 20 climbers, who sign up via the Meetup app.
The walkers tackle steps on the Riverfront Canal Walk before taking the Capital Trail east and heading up to Libby Hill Park. They descend 150 steps at Libby Hill Park and climb back up them again. Some of them run up the steps or do it backward. The walk takes them up and down steps at Taylor’s Hill Park and Jefferson Park, finishing off on the Virginia Capitol steps (when not under renovation) followed by refreshments at Bottoms Up on Mondays and Rosie Connolly’s Pub & Restaurant on Thursdays.
While most of the stair climbers are middle-aged, Dave Rice, 31, is one of the younger members. He joined the James River Hikers in 2016 but became inactive in 2019. On top of that, his social life got “smashed by COVID.”
Becoming active again with the stair climbs was part of an overall fitness and weight loss journey. Rice initially struggled with the pace, but now he runs up as many flights as he can. “I was 300 pounds two years ago. Now I’m close to being 230,” he says.
Dave Harwood, 85, is the oldest stair climber. The former Marine, teacher, rugby player and marathon runner has attended the hikes for four years. He likes the history he encounters in the Church Hill area. The classic view of the James River from Libby Hill Park reminded William Byrd II of the view over the Thames at Richmond in England. Harwood recalls playing a rugby team from Richmond in England in 1969.
He still goes up and down the Libby Hill steps, although he no longer runs them. “It’s quick, it’s challenging. It’s a great workout with great people,” Harwood says.
