Dear Friends of the KTC from David Black

I want to start by saying thank you to each of you for being a part of the Knoxville Track Club. For some of you, 2022 may have been your first year. For others, you have been involved for decades. I truly appreciate each of you for your support through membership, participation, volunteering, sponsoring, donations, etc. It is because of you that we are able to do great things.

I have been with the KTC since August of 2015. In April of 2017, I became the Interim Executive Director. After an extensive search, I was named the Executive Director in August 2017. During my tenure with the KTC we have experienced some amazing things, as well as some crazy things, such as an unprecedented pandemic.

During this time, we have added races and moved races. We have pivoted to adapt to a world changed post pandemic. We set many race participation records. Ten road events and fourteen trail events have set record numbers for participation. Most recently the 46th annual Townsend event and 38th annual Thanksgiving Day race set new records. My hope is that participation records will continue to be broken as KTC continues to grow. Great things are happening for the KTC and the Knoxville area running community.

In my time with the KTC I have met hundreds, if not thousands of people from all walks of life. I have truly loved my time with the club and the lifelong friends that I have made along the way. We have accomplished great things together. As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

After much thought and prayer, I have made the decision to explore other career opportunities and be more present for my family. I will be stepping down as the KTC Executive Director. I have been blessed with so many stories of the positive impact the KTC running community has had on people. Seeing so many tears of joy as participants reach goals has been amazing. I am excited to see the great work continue.

I will be around for a few months to assist with the transition while the Board of Directors seeks a new Executive Director. I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming events.

Thank you again for all the support you have given me and the Knoxville Track Club.

Kindest Regards,
David Black