Fargo's Dick Beardsley Running Company sold to new partnership

Fargo-based Dick Beardsley Running Company has been sold to a partnership that includes Mark Knutson, executive director of the Fargo Marathon.

The specialty running store at 1801 45th St. S. opened three years ago and was sold May 1.

Knutson said he and his partners plan to change the name of the store to Go Far Sports sometime this summer and plan to expand it by about 1,200 square feet.

Knutson’s partners in the venture are Dan and Teri Fremling and Sue Carlson, Knutson’s girlfriend.

Knutson also owns women’s health club Go Far Woman, formerly Lady Wellness, 1525 32nd Ave. S., Fargo, and Go Far Events, an event management company.

“They are partnering up on the health club and the store with me,” Knutson said. “We are kind of merging all of the efforts together here.”

Dan Fremling owns Fremling and Associates insurance agency, is president of the Fargo School Board and officiates college and high school football.

Teri Fremling works at Performance Center Inc., teaches classes at Go Far Woman and has run several marathons, her husband said.

“She’s into running and fitness, and I’m getting started in running and have been into fitness,” he said. “It just seemed like a pretty good little venture to start off in.”

Knutson said he was approached by the previous owners about a year ago.

“Obviously I have a little bit of a connection to the running world,” he said. “After buying the health club, it seemed like a pretty decent fit to pull the retail piece into it.”

Knutson said the new owners plan to slightly remodel the 650-member health club, open a small retail location there and add other sporting items.

The store employs eight people, and plans are to add a couple more, he said.

Dick Beardsley, reached Thursday in Minneapolis, credited his partners with the store’s success.

“They were the ones that were there every day and made that store into what it is,” said Beardsley, who lives in Texas.

Tags: daily updates, dick beardsley running company, fargo, running