President’s Message – July/August 2022

2018 Beat the Heat. Photo by Robert Hill

Summertime is a busy time for Twin City Track Club! 

While many organizations tend to back off on activities during summer months, we are as busy as ever serving the running community.  Kudos to all of you who are chipping in through organizing and volunteering to make it all happen!

Our race calendar includes 6 races during the June through August time period.  The June $5K had 107 finishers.  The July and August $5K races will likely have a similar number.  Race Director, Terry Wilmoth is picking up some sponsors to support the race and provide sustainability for this popular race series. Speaking of sustainability, Sandy Wetherhold directed his 36th straight Ultimate Runner event on June 25.  We had a full field and delightful weather.  Volunteer support was awesome again contributing to a very successful event.  Mark your calendars now for June 24, 2023! In addition, we have our Beat the Heat race coming up on July 16 and Hobby Trails to You on August 13. Hobby Trails is the first of 4 races in the FIT 4 race series that Bill Gibbs directs. Embrace summer running and racing!

It was nice to see a large gathering at our Spring Picnic in May where we voted in 4 new board members.  Please welcome and support John Anderson, Jessica Cowart, Mike Ingram and Dana Bishop who have hit the ground running (how appropriate for a running club!) Thank you in advance for all you are doing.  Please take a moment to thank these and all other board members for their tireless work to support you and the rest of the running community.  We are making a difference!

I want to acknowledge a couple of other recent events – one sad and one joyous.  First, we are grieving together about the loss of Dennis McNeil who was a long-time member of the club and served recently as club president.  It was nice to see so many of you who knew Dennis at the memorial event at Salem Lake on June 15.  We will be forever grateful for his friendship and positive impact on TCTC.

Second, we celebrate together the recent accomplishment of club member and local runner Donnie Cowart who set a new state 5K road race record with a time of 14:05 at the China Grove Main Street Challenge 5K on June 17.  Scott Dvorak of Charlotte had held the North Carolina 5K record since 1997 with a time of 14:08. Way to go Donnie!

Finally, I look forward to seeing so many of you at the Dash Game on July 7.  As of this writing, we have 132 people signed to attend TCTC Night at the Dash.  That is awesome! Please take this opportunity to meet other club members and continue building our running community.

Happy Running!

Er