KTC Hall of Fame Class of 2024
March 15, 2024Summer Fun Ahead – Don’t Miss Out!
June 2, 2024
The Hard Knox Pizza Dogwood Classic 5k on April 27 was a picture-perfect morning following a week of gloom and rain. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the runners were ready to take on The Boulevard.
Whether it was the rain knocking the pollen out of the air, or just the joy of a clear morning, paces were blazing fast! We had a record number of kids run the mile race with Lola Rosser leading the way and a finish time of 6:25! Paces were lightning in the 5k as well, with Preston Ruth taking first overall male with a time of 15:45. Peighton Meske made quick work of the rolling hills and came in first overall female with a time of 16:31.
Runners really are a different sort of folk. Not many people would spend the morning of their wedding running a 5K with their soon to be spouse and wedding party, but that’s exactly what Rachel Heckle and Carter Hall did! Thank you for spending the morning of your special day kicking asphalt and running with us! I hope the rest of the day went off without issue and we hope to see you next year to celebrate your one-year anniversary!
A huge thank you goes out to our title sponsor, Hard Knox Pizza! They hosted an amazing post-race party, and if you didn’t try their special Dogwood Pizza, you missed out! It had pepperoni, jalapenos, and the perfect hot honey drizzle to top it off. They also opened early, rocked some Dogwood 5K shirts, and made delicious breakfast pizza as well!
Stanley’s Greenhouse once again donated their beautiful tomato plants as the age group awards. They are the perfect award for this springtime race! If there wasn’t already a competitive air around this fast course, the tomato plants really up the ante! Runners will go all out for a chance to take home of these top-notch plants! Tennessee Sports Medicine Group was onsite post-race for injury assessment and post-run stretching, and I know lots of runners took advantage of having them there.
And thank you to the rest of our great sponsors: Runners Market, Eddie’s Health Shop, Pilot Travel Centers, RunKnox, and Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.
Races are not possible without a host of volunteers, and the Knoxville Running Community has some of the absolute best. A huge thank you and shout out to C. John Chavis for singing the National Anthem so beautifully to start the race off right! The University of Tennessee Running Club provided lots of volunteers and lots of energy! Our finish line was a party thanks to them! Everyone who showed up early, stayed late, jumped in, cheered, directed, and kept runners safe: THANK YOU! I am so so grateful for all of you!
It’s an honor to direct this race, and I look forward to seeing what next year brings! Don’t forget about The Expo 5k and 10k coming up on May 25th! See you there!
