At the conclusion of his collegiate soccer career, Coach Wierick needed an athletic outlet and soon entered the world of triathlon. These competitions led to a passion for understanding the inner workings of athletic development.  Fortunately, with a strong academic background in Biochemistry and Sports Science, he was able to navigate these waters quickly.  What began as an athletic endeavor quickly shifted into a coaching role at his first company, T3 Training Systems.  After three successful years building this business, he stepped away from it and created Triple Threat Racing, putting his leadership and real passion of performance and character development at the forefront.  These characteristics are the foundation on which TTR was built.

Never one to settle, Coach Wierick continued his graduate education earning his Masters in Leadership & Ethics and his Masters In Business Administration (MBA.) In addition to his academic achievements, Coach Wierick has earned the world’s highest coaching credentials through USA Track & Field and World Athletics. These have further solidified his belief in pushing this program in the direction of unshakable focus on the human factor.  While TTR was originally created with the primary focus on triathlon, the running community quickly took notice. Becoming more and more passionate about running performance and development, along with recognizing the need for a high-level running club in the area, Coach Wierick created Arkansas Track Club in January 2021.

Today, Arkansas Track Club stands as a unique model, one that incorporates individuals of all ages, all areas of running, and all levels of experience to form ONE TEAM. We want this to continue to evolve so that every Track & Field athlete, every MUT (Mountain Ultra Trail) runner, every road racer and cross-country athlete, has a home among our ranks. While it is not uncommon for large programs to segregate based on discipline and experience, our goal is for all athletes at ARTC to coexist as teammates and cheerleaders for the others. The training may look different for each group, but understanding that every athlete is putting in the work and plays an integral role in the TEAM is crucial to our support network.

What began as a few kids meeting at the track years ago, our Youth group (youth, junior, & Senior teams) quickly grew to become the largest of all ARTC’s programs. Even with its continued growth, our focus will always be sustaining the team culture and quality of care and development we can give each athlete.  While we obviously love all things running related, we also encourage our athletes to continue playing other sports and not “specialize” until the later teenage years.  We believe this is a big part of our success, and why our athletes continue to succeed in their collegiate and post collegiate years.

Our Open/Masters program is the youngest, but one we hope to multiply over the years.  As with the Youth program, maintaining our team culture is the focus as this is what sets us apart. Pace is irrelevant, but character and hard work isn’t. By welcoming and encouraging every type of athlete, the future of this program is dedicated to not only growing our running community but giving back to it as well.

Although ARTC’s Elite program is focused on performance and development, as with our other groups, we will not sacrifice our team culture for either of these. Only athletes that we see are a good fit for our program’s culture will be accepted to this roster. As a grassroots feeder program to what will be our professional squad in the coming years, we want to grow this program with post collegiate athletes that have the desire and passion to continue their development.   We see this being a solid group of athletes that are integrated into every aspect of our program.  We expect this group to work diligently with their coaches towards continued development, to be leadership and mentors to our Youth and Open/Masters team and ultimately be incredible ambassadors of our program and our sport.  We will have Elite athletes in every discipline of Track & Field, Cross Country, Road Racing, and Mountain, Ultra, & Trail.

Ultimately, Arkansas Track Club will be uniquely qualified to welcome every age group from 6 to 100+ years and be home to every level of athlete, from the least experienced to world-caliber Olympians.  Additionally, and most importantly, when the running community and those outside of it hear our name, it will be synonymous with integrity, honor, discipline, community, passion, and performance.