Tim and Leslie Grotenhuis join us for a remarkable exploration into the world of race directing and entrepreneurship. After moving to Asheville in 2005 and immersing themselves in the running community, this passionate pair transformed their volunteer work into Kick It Events, a flourishing business birthed in 2014. They reveal how Leslie's production coordination skills and Tim's web design expertise paved the way for their success, and how they turned the challenge of directing races such as the Thomas Wolfe 8K and the Hot Chocolate 10K into a thriving enterprise. Their journey underscores the unpredictable paths that hobbies can take, shaped by creativity, community involvement, and a shared love for running.
Join us for an inspiring conversation that challenges you to keep an open mind and push the boundaries of your ventures.

Kick It Events Management is a small, family owned business producing outstanding events in Asheville and the surrounding Western NC area. The company launched in 2014, but their journey of becoming running event production coordinators begins much earlier.
Originally, they donated our time as volunteer race directors to the Asheville Track Club for the Thomas Wolfe 8k and to the Isaac Dickson Elementary School PTO for the Hot Chocolate 10k (now the Hot Chocolate Races) from 2006 to 2013. After many requests for help with other events they launched the race direction side of the business in 2014 and became professional event producers. In 2020, as the world screeched to a halt they used that lull in the event schedule to add race timing to our list of services as well as adding some event marketing skills to their resume.

Leslie and Tim currently produce over 15 races a year and have a handful of race timing only clients. They also work with and help support through partnerships over 15 local non-profit organizations.

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All the best!
Bill

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All the best!

Bill