Peachtree Road Race

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Finish line of the 2006 Peachtree Road Race

The Peachtree Road Race, founded in 1970, is the largest, and arguably the best and most famous, 10 kilometer running event in the world, boasting a field of 55,000 participants annually. It takes place on July 4th each year, in Atlanta, Georgia, and is hosted by the Atlanta Track Club. Each year, it also is host to the PRRO Race of Champions, as the culminating event in the 5-race Professional Road Running Organization's circuit. The elite field is drawn from the top point-earners in the circuit, adding even more prestige and sparkle to an already glittering event.

1 History
2 T-Shirts
3 Past winners
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1970s

Peachtree's inauguration in 1970 held few indications of the future glory that laid ahead. The idea for a Fourth of July race, traversing the city's main thoroughfare, germinated the year before when a carload of Atlanta Track Club members went to Fort Benning for its modest Independence Day run. On the way home, someone suggested Atlanta should have its own Fourth of July event; another added it could go down the main street given the light holiday traffic. Thus it came into being, when approximately 110 runners gathered at the old Sears parking lot at the corner of Peachtree Road and Roswell Road and, at 9:30 a.m. on July 4, 1970, the lead pack headed downtown towards Central City Park in the first Peachtree Road Race, with a trailing parade of running enthusiasts and even a few weekend joggers in tow.

The race was once but one of a series of small, local races put on by the Atlanta Track Club. The club was founded in 1964, when a group of post-collegiate runners joined together with some metro area coaches to support track and field and road running at the local level. The 1960s were the pre-dawn of the running boom; those who ran for exercise were viewed as amusing eccentrics. Road races were small and infrequent, with runners driving long distances to take part in these low-key competitions. To help fill this void, the ATC began a modest series of races in the late 1960s, administered informally and attended by a few stalwarts. Peachtree become one among this series.

The first Peachtree differed somewhat from its companion races, even in the beginning, for it attracted a sponsor, Carling Brewery. That modest support allowed the race to afford trophies, a luxury not easily funded through the then standard $2 entry fee. Nor did the budget include T-shirts, a rarity at the time, though it compassed the 15-cent bus fare given to each finisher to return him back to Peachtree, to his car at Sears.

Those who ran the inaugural event recall its jovial lack of pretension. Founder and race director Tim Singleton put the event on with a handful of volunteers. He set up registration, started the event, and then jumped in his car, got to the finish well before the lead runners, and oversaw the finish and awards.

During the early years, the course went from Sears in Buckhead to Downtown Atlanta. The runners ran down Peachtree's far right lane, kept close to the gutter by vigilant police. At Pershing Point, the course veered onto West Peachtree, rejoining Peachtree near Davison's (Macy's). The race ended at Central City Park. There was no water or aid stations on the course, as track and field rules at the time discouraged such aid for distances of 10K or shorter. Spectators consisted of a few surprised pedestrians, perhaps walking their dogs. Though modest, the race nonetheless attracted the local elite; it was won by Jeff Galloway, soon to be an Olympian in 1972, and Gayle Barron, whose career would be capped with a 1978 win of the Boston Marathon.

Despite the heat and lack of pomp and frill, the race caught the imagination of the town's running community, and of those in the neighboring states. The 1971 Peachtree almost doubled in size, to 198 runners, a growth which took organizers by surprise. That year they used the Carling money to buy T-shirts, but had not ordered enough. They decided to give the shirts to the finishers until they ran out. Those who missed the cut vowed to return the following year and get one. Many did return, though in some cases their luck had not improved. Organizers this time had ordered enough for 250, with the exact design of the year prior, but this time 330 showed up. Close to a hundred left disappointed, promising to return and finally earn the shirt.

By 1973, earning the Peachtree shirt had become a goal of local runners. Its appearance belied its importance. The white shirt was undated, and was merely reprinted each year with little or no change, not even a date; those who had succeeded in earning all three shirts now owned three identical bits of cloth. As the importance of the shirt grew, so did the number of people who ran. Running as a recreational activity began to boom in the early 1970s, following Frank Shorter's win in the 1972 Olympic Marathon. The name of this new sports hero, coupled with the growing popularity of Dr. Kenneth Cooper's book on the benefits of aerobic exercise, had thousands buying Nike waffle trainers and hitting the streets. Running was no longer just the activity of the scrawny eccentric.

The 1974 event doubled again, to 765 finishers. And, once again, organizers ran out of shirts. In 1975, it fared little better, when over a thousand runners finished. The 1974 and 1975 now carried the name Tuborg, rather than Carling, but were otherwise unaltered.

A major shift took place in 1976, the first major change in the history of the race. Carling, with lessening ties to Atlanta, dropped its sponsorship. The title sponsorship was taken by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, largely at the instigation of Jim Kennedy, a runner and member of the Cox organization's inner circle, the newspaper's owner. Affiliation with the newspaper brought added coverage and corresponding popularity. The race organizers, for their part, began inviting the nation's elite road racers to participate. The field swelled to 2,300; Olympian Don Kardong won. Peachtree was swiftly becoming among the best known in the United States. But the shirt still looked the same, with the newspaper's logo replacing that of Tuborg; still, there was no date.

The large fields were straining race organization. The 6,500 who entered the 1977 race overwhelmed Central City Park. In 1978, the race course was modified. The Start moved north to Lenox Square and the finish line was put in front of the Bath House in Piedmont Park. Runners followed the original course onto West Peachtree. They turned left at 12th Street and thus entered the Park towards the Bath House. The 1977 shirt also carried a new look; the familiar peach made its first appearance, as did the date. By 1979, the field had reached over 20,000. The course by now had again been slightly altered, with runners entering the Park at 14th Street. That year, as well, Bob Varsha was hired as the first paid director.

[edit] 1980s

In 1980, race entries were limited at 25,000. The limit was set because, at five and half miles, the course narrowed to two lanes where it entered the Park from 14th Street. Organizers felt congestion there was too thick to allow more. Thus race numbers remained relatively steady through 1989 when the 25,000 limit was reached in just nine days. However, interest in the event flourished wildly, and race entries closed earlier and earlier. Those not making the cut bellowed in anger, and race organizers took heed, making changes in 1990 including a redesign of the race start. 40,000 runners were allowed to participate, but entries still took only two weeks to close. Groups of 5,000 each, based on anticipated finish times, were started at three minute intervals, allowing the crowd to stretch out sufficiently to ease comfortably through the 14th Street gate; it took thirty minutes to get all runners underway.

The 1980's saw other changes as well. In the early part of the decade, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dropped its sponsorship, but returned in 1985. And later in the decade, in an effort to better meet the needs of children, for whom the Peachtree was both too long and too crowded, the Atlanta Track Club began Peachtree Jr., a fun run 3K for children aged seven to twelve. Taking place the first Saturday in June each year, it attracts its limit of 2,500.

The decade also saw the emergence of Peachtree's Wheelchair Division. Presently among the most beloved aspects of the race, the Division took formal shape in 1982. Today, more than 100 athletes take part in what has become one of the world's finest wheelchair events, attracting top international competition. Sponsored by the Shepherd Spinal Center since its inception, the event has produced several world record-breaking performances with top contenders covering the 6.2 mile course in under 20 minutes (the course record for those on foot is 27:04).

[edit] 1990s

In the early 1990s, Peachtree also found its niche in Atlanta's effort to win the bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics. Bid organizers invited International Olympic Committee (IOC) organizers to observe the race, and Peachtree's fourth mile (I-85 overpass to Colony Square) was dubbed the Olympic Mile, complete with salutational banner and Olympic theme music over the sound system. In 1990, Peachtree hosted a breakfast for visiting IOC members along the Mile. In honor of Atlanta's winning bid, banner and theme music continue there. This is also the location of the roughly 3% grade known as "Cardiac Hill".

Continued as well has been the race's popularity. In 1992, the race expanded to 45,000, when entries closed in nine days. In 1993, it closed in six days, though the number of registered participants had expanded to 45,000. And for its Silver Anniversary, it attracted 60,000 entries the first weekend that entries opened. The first 40,000 were accepted, the final 10,000 taken from a lottery of those entries postmarked in March (the race opened March 20). Over 10,000 were rejected.

As anticipated, the 1996 edition of the Peachtree was memorable. July 4th was but two days before the Olympic Village opened to welcome the 10,000 athletes coming to town to participate in the Centennial Olympic Games. Thirty two Olympians made Peachtree's elite field the most illustrious ever; it was little surprise that both men's and women's course records fell, the men's being broken by Kenya's Joseph Kimani in a world best 10K time of 27:04.

The post-Olympic era has little dampened Peachtree's popularity. When the race opens the third Sunday in March each year, while over 60,000 runners routinely vie to enter. In 1998, 55,000 runners were admitted, up from 50,000 in 1997. Among other changes that year, all runners who qualified for the early time groups by running a certified 10K in 54:59 minutes or under were timed, their names listed in the following morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In 1999, Peachtree faced new challenges. Sewer construction in Piedmont Park required the final mile of the course be rerouted; for the first time since 1978 the race finished outside the Park. The new finish, on 10th Street at Charles Allen Drive, is broader and downhill, and has been greeted by runners with enthusiasm. Thus, the change is likely to become permanent. All finish area activity remains in Piedmont Park. In 2002 and 2003, due to renovations of the meadow in Piedmont Park, the finish area was temporarily changed by having runners walk an additional 1/2 mile to the park's ballfields. However, the finish line was still at 10th Street and Charles Allen Drive. As is so often the case, Peachtree continues to mix new elements into its traditions.

[edit] T-Shirts

Perhaps the most popular aspect of the Peachtree Road Race is its t-shirts. Each year a different design is chosen through a contest sponsored by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a limited number of shirts are made. The contest was started in 1995 after many people thought that the shirt design from the previous year resembled a pumpkin more than a peach. T-shirts are only available to runners who finish the race, and then only to those who finish within a certain time period, which starts when the last runner crosses the start line.