It’s a great partnership for us, and we’ve been treated well by everyone at the Bank.” Our block, because we’re right next door, is just a little community in and of itself. “I wouldn’t say we have one banker, we have like, a family at the Bank is how I would describe it,” Koch said. Since then, they’ve felt all the benefits of banking with a locally owned, community bank. In fact, it’s part of the reason why 605 moved their business banking over to FNB. That sense of improving their communities, and not to mention being right next door to each other, was what led to a natural partnership between The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and 605 Running Co. “When we approached specifically about Skedaddle, they were all in to support our events, and they saw a natural tie in on how being an active community with health and wellness at the forefront is really a successful community,” Koch said. In order to bring their race to a larger scale and attract runners from all over the region, 605 realized they’d need partnerships from other businesses and organizations in Sioux Falls, which is when The First National Bank in Sioux Falls came on the scene. The result? An annual event that now hosts up to 1,300 runners from 37 different states who come to Sioux Falls to run 13.1 miles. In the spring of 2018, they gave it a shot. One of those big dreams was to hold a race: a half marathon. “I am the visionary I’ve always got big plans and big dreams.” “I brought that into the business model for the guys with the running store, because they’re very analytical business partners, which is great for me, because I’m sort of the other side of that spectrum,” Koch explained. “We were sort of in the right place at the right time to really activate a lot of that energy and bring our community together.” “For us, we came into the Sioux Falls market in the running world at a unique time, where we have a strong running tradition and history, we just haven’t been as organized,” Koch said. A year and half later, he became a part-owner, and the timing couldn’t have been more ideal: the business was taking off at the same time as the running movement in Sioux Falls. Within a month of working at the store, the Watleys hired him on full-time. “I thought their business was really cool, and so I decided I wanted to work there part-time.” “I was not necessarily a runner at that time, I had run a half marathon, but I had always played other sports,” Koch said. was the first recipient of the program, and Koch loved their business proposal so much that he wanted to get even more involved. Koch was involved with the program and has been active in the broader downtown business community for 19 years through his family’s business, The Cookie Jar. That’s when they applied for the Downtown Sioux Falls Incubator Program. Having grown up running, they were frequent customers of the Lincoln Running Company in Lincoln, Nebraska, and wanted to bring something similar to Sioux Falls.

The son of restaurant owners meets some serious runnersĪside from being brothers, there is one thing that Logan, Grant, and Paul Watley all have in common: they love to run. It’s more than just a place to buy running shoes and gear: it’s a community that extends far beyond the store walls. Now a part-owner of 605 Running Company, Koch and his business partners, Logan, Grant, and Paul Watley, have built a successful full-service retail business. But when he met three brothers with a passion for running, it all changed. Working at a running store wasn’t on Greg Koch’s list of career plans.

Sioux falls skedaddle half marathon