State of The Run Club 2024
Letter From The President
Hello Runners,
I'm Benn Harms, and I'm incredibly excited to step into the role of President for the SFARC. First and foremost, I want to thank Nathan Schwab, Chelsea Steinborn, and Jessica Walhof and everyone else involved in the Run Club for everything they do and have contributed to make it the club it is today. We are incredibly lucky to have a group of people so dedicated to the running community in our area, they deserve recognition for everything they do month after month. Thank you all!
A little about me: I grew up in Sioux Falls and began my running journey my freshman year of high school at Washington High School. It was there that I found not only a sport I loved, but a community of teammates and coaches that were welcoming, a blast to be around, and were always pushing you to be your best. I continued running through college at Concordia University, NE and then moved back to Sioux Falls where I met my wife, Annie. We are proud parents of two wonderful girls that keep us on our toes most hours of the day. Living in the Midwest we try to embrace all the seasons, so you will find us hitting the slopes for some snowboarding when the snow starts flying (hopefully soon?), and then camping the other 8 months out of the year.
Last Summer I jumped into the SFARC Trail Race Series in an attempt to find some motivation to get me back in shape after having not done any serious consistent training since college. What I found instead was a fun and welcoming group of runners that drew me in with their sense of community and encouragement (as well as a new found love for trail running!). Seeing the way this group works to bring people together, encourages each other, and welcomes others into the community inspired me to get involved. The more I got involved, the more I learned about everything else this club does; from putting on the Trail Race Series, helping with other running events around the city, instilling the love of running in the younger generations, to volunteering at other organizations in the area; there's so much more than just running. It's just a great group to be involved in.
In the coming year, I hope to be able to continue to foster and encourage that same feeling by continuing our weekly group runs, hosting SFARC meet ups, strengthening our presence in the community, and finding other ways to connect and grow our membership. Most importantly, I want to make sure everyone feels supported-whether you're chasing PRs, jumping in for the first time, or just enjoying the journey one step at a time. I look forward to meeting you and hearing from you – your stories, your ideas, and your passion for running.
Here's to miles of fun, connection, and accomplishment ahead!
Happy Running!
Benn Harms
Current & Open Board Positions
President
Benn H
Oct '24 - Oct '26
Vice President
Chelsea S
Nov '22 - Nov '25
Membership
OPEN - Please reach out if you're interested in helping out!
Events
OPEN - Please reach out if you're interested in helping out!
Communications
OPEN - Please reach out if you're interested in helping out!
Group Run Ambassador
???????Jess W
2025 confirmed
Treasurer
???????Jeff A/Nathan S
Ongoing
Website Design
???????Josh Hohbein
Ongoing
Trail Series Race Director
???????Nathan S
2017-Ongoing
Open
???????Pete H
Sept '24 - Sep '26
Finances
The club currently has around $10,000 in checking, which has been built up over the years. We don't have a lot of expenses, but they still add up. Luckily our small membership fee usually covers most, if not all, of our annual expenses. By switching membership platforms earlier this year, we saved the club over $1200 a year in software fees. Here are our hard costs every year:
$1200 - RRCA annual membership - Road Runners Club of America provides the SF Run Club with 501c3 status and insurance for our board members, events, and races.
$270 - Website Hosting, $20 - Website Domain, $166 - PO Box Rental, $500-800 x2 - Summer & Winter Social Events
We also have various other expenses such as swag purchases, stickers, donations (Good Earth trail signs), etc. We have the 10k reserves saved up for unforeseen expenses such as replacing our timing clock, which just happened to die on us this fall. A new trailer may also be on the horizon in the coming years as well. Both of those could run well into the thousands of dollars each to replace.
The Trail Race Series runs on a completely separate, stand alone budget. Income generated by the series has been donated, with a small portion kept by the club. We've donated $26,500 to FAST over the 8 years. We've also donated to Leif Ericson Day Camp as well as Big Sioux County Park.
We thank all of our members for their continued financial support, which helps us keep going with our mission and not worrying about finances from year to year. We believe the small nominal membership dues doesn't keep people from being a part of our club and also provides great value for what you get in return.
2024 Year In Review
Kids Cross Country Meets at Morningside Park - For 18 years, we helped host free kids's cross country meets in September, along with 605 Running Co and Sioux Falls Parks and Rec. These simple and loved races bring in 100s of kids (6th grade and younger) each week (for 3 weeks) to Morningside Park to simply run. It's awesome to see so many kids out there running and we'll be back again next fall!
Good Earth Trail Signs - Have you seen the new trail signs at Good Earth State Park? We were very happy to partner with park staff to sponsor these new signs throughout the trails in the park! These signs will help hikers and runners on the beautiful trails for years to come! This is a great example of another way your membership helps give back to the community.
Thursday Night Group Runs - For Thursday evening group runs at Good Earth State Park, we had one of our longest seasons thanks to favorable trail conditions, running from March to October. We wrapped up a month ago as the sun quite literally set on us. We went through 180+ popsicles and dozens of pancakes. Thanks to all who made this a fun weekly run, especially Jess W, Board Member, for always creating a welcoming environment for runners of all paces.
Other Group Runs - StretchLab Run with 605 Running Co. - Smoothies at Juice Stop - Ice Cream at Stenslands - & a holiday lights run coming up soon! Keep a look out on our social channels (FB, Insta, & Strava) for one off group runs to participate in!
Volunteering - Trail cleanup on Earth Day - Serving breakfast at the Banquet - Bag Drop/Packet Pickup for the SF Marathon - We had another busy year helping out the community!
Social Events - Winter social in January at Woodgrain Brewing Company - Summer social in August at the Sanford Sports Complex - These yearly catered events are a great way for us to say thanks for being a member and to come together and just hang out, families included. We are very excited for our upcoming winter social in early 2025!
Trail Race Series - We wrapped up our 8th year of the series at Newton Hills and the year was a huge success. We already sent out a big wrap up email on the series, so we won't go over the details again, but we are busy planning for 2025 and will be sending out details this spring!
Upcoming Events!
Holiday Lights Group Run!
Tuesday December 17th at 6PM
Meet at The Source Coffee Roastery & Taproom
We'll go on a run down to the falls and meet back at The Source for refreshements
Open to anyone, all paces welcome!
Winter Social - Mark your calendars!
Sunday January 26th at 4:30PM
Vinyl Taco - Entire space rented out!
Free Taco Table for food
Free Games (duck bowling, shuffleboard, N64, giant Jenga, ping pong, etc.)
Open to all paid up members and their immediate family!
ASK
What do you want to see from the club in 2025? It's easy to get stuck in our ways, especially given the time constraints of a 100% volunteer board, so we'd love to hear what you - our members - want to get out of the club!
Non running related events? (trivia night, ax throwing, bowling, climbing gym, etc.)
More group runs? (where? when? are you willing to lead it weekly?)
More volunteer opportunities?
Thoughts on the trail series?
Please email us at runsiouxfalls@gmail.com or direct message the club on FB/Insta to give us some input on what you'd like to see!
Lastly, as you have a desire to help out and see the Run Club flourish, we'd love your help on the board! Please reach out if you have any interest in our open positions or just getting on as an 'open' chair.
Thanks again for a great 2024 and we are looking forward to an even better 2025!
- SF Area Running Club Board -
