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Articles tagged #Peachtree Road Race
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With a long and respected legacy of hosting Atlanta's most prestigious endurance events, Atlanta Track Club will be hosting this year’s Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race virtually for the first time in its 51-year history. Despite not running or walking down Peachtree Road with 60,000 other participants in 2020, race organizers are building a virtual experience that will deliver an unforgettable and authentic Peachtree.
To launch this premier virtual event to participants in all 50 states and 31 countries, Atlanta Track Club looked to their partner haku for fully unique and completely customized technology solutions. haku, the Miami-based technology company, has become the industry leader in bringing the world’s most prestigious endurance events to life, such as the recent 124th Boston Marathon Virtual Experience.
"While we all will miss the sights and sounds of the Peachtree, we are confident haku will help us keep the storied Peachtree tradition going another year," said Rich Kenah, Atlanta Track Club’s Executive Director and Race Director of the AJC Peachtree Road Race. "We saw it through haku's work with the Boston Marathon that they understand the deep-seeded rituals associated with this race and have the ability to build unique and successful virtual events for thousands of runners at a time."
Creating an immersive event app for the Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race with haku was an important focus in bringing this event to thousands of participants around the world. The app will have many innovative features to drive a memorable and engaging experience. Participants will be able to track their progress on the course, upload and compare results, engage with their community, and much more. To stay true to tradition, the Club also worked with haku to incorporate audio cues into the app’s race day experience to simulate the sounds that a runner would typically hear during the annual road race and provide encouraging messages from Olympian Meb Keflezighi, 2017 Peachtree Champion and U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon Champion Aliphine Tuliamuk and World Record Holder Daniel Romanchuk.
"Building the app with haku was a collaborative process. There were no rigid set of features that we had to adhere to. The app is fully customized for the AJC Peachtree Road Race participants," said Kenah. "haku has been great about meeting our particular needs and the whole process couldn't have been easier."
Atlanta Track Club and haku are excited to kick off this spectacular event at the end of November, which will deliver a unique Atlanta-centric experience rooted in tradition.
"The passion and dedication that the Atlanta Track Club has shown for this event are immeasurable," said haku Founder and CEO, Carlos Escobar. "The Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race will make every participant and spectator feel like they're truly still a part of this 50-year long tradition."
After an extensive search, ATC chose to move forward with haku as its new technology partner in late 2019 after seeing haku’s unique capability of providing truly bespoke technology for its partners. Through their partnership, the organizations are looking forward to introducing new innovative event technology that will drive significant participant engagement, streamline operations, and provide extraordinary experiences for Running City USA.
"We're excited to be able to provide a more user-friendly, clean, and elevated experience for our members and volunteers," said Kenah. "In working with haku, we’re now able to have a better understanding of the people who interact with the Club, which will enable us to deliver more unique and personalized experiences."
The Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race will begin on Thanksgiving Day, November 26. Participants can submit their results between 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 26 and 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, November 29.
(11/18/2020) Views: 107 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...The Atlanta Track Club bought time and considered going to great lengths to stage The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race as an in-person race. However, the coronavirus’ continued pervasiveness claimed another landmark sporting event. Initially delayed from its customary July 4 date to Thanksgiving Day in hopes that COVID-19 would have been under better control, the Peachtree now will be run solely in a virtual setting.
“We’ll do so with mixed emotions, but we’ll do it knowing that this is going to be the safest route and also the route that delivers the most authentic Peachtree possible,” track club executive director Rich Kenah told the AJC.
The long-standing Atlanta tradition will no longer be an event featuring 60,000 runners and walkers making their way through the streets, cheered on by a mass of spectators. Instead, participants will design a 6.2-mile course of their choosing with the use of an app and run on Thanksgiving. The track club will create the app that will enable participants to track their times and measure their performance against other finishers.
In May, when Kenah pushed the race from July 4, its home since the race’s inception in 1970, to Nov. 26, he described himself as “cautiously optimistic” that the world’s largest 10-kilometer race could be run down Peachtree Road. However, the spread of COVID-19 has not been curtailed as hoped, particularly in the state of Georgia. Bringing together tens of thousands participants, plus race staff, became less and less of a feasible option. Kenah said that it seemed that the chances of getting a permit from the city of Atlanta to hold the race decreased on a daily basis.
“And, to be honest with you, as we made some educated guesses, we never thought that the Southeast and Georgia specifically would be seeing the level of virus we’re seeing right now,” he said.
Custodian of a tradition cherished by thousands of Georgians, Kenah acknowledged feeling the aggravation shared across the state and region, saying that, “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I feel as if we’re here as a result of a failure of leadership and collective sacrifice. And that frustrates me.”
Kenah added that he was not referring to any leader in specific.
“No, we as a country just need to own this together,” he said. “I’m not pointing fingers, but it disappoints me that, here we are, that our schools are day to day, our sporting events are being taken down one by one, and the rest of the world seems to have made the sacrifices necessary to try to get back to a new normal.”
(08/20/2020) Views: 201 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...Atlanta will celebrate family, fitness and the Founding Fathers this fall as the AJC Peachtree Road Race moves from the Fourth of July to Thanksgiving Day in 2020. The 51st Running of the Peachtree will take place on Thursday, November 26, Atlanta Track Club announced today. It marks the first time in the event's history that it will not be held on July 4.
"As Atlanta and the nation continue to take precautions to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19, we understand that Peachtree participants, volunteers, medical staff and the other first responders who keep them safe need more time to prepare for this year's race," said Rich Kenah, race director of the Peachtree and Atlanta Track Club's executive director. "We are thankful for the opportunity to move forward together with all of Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day in a responsible and safe format."
More than 45,000 people have already registered for this year's AJC Peachtree Road Race. All confirmed participants will remain registered with no further action needed. Current registrants will also have the option to complete the race virtually, move their entry to 2021 at no charge, transfer to a new participant, donate their registration fee to Atlanta Track Club's community initiatives or receive a refund. A full list of options can be found here.
Additionally, Atlanta Track Club plans to reopen registration for the Peachtree on August 31 -September 6 for members of the Club. For non-members it will open September 7 and will close on September 13 or when the event reaches capacity. Kilometer Kids Charity entries will remain open throughout the spring and summer.
The Club also announced efforts to plan and implement new safety measures at this year's race including fewer participants on each start line, longer separation between waves, re-imagining hydration stations and working with MARTA to get people to and from the event. "As it has been for 55 years, health and safety is Atlanta Track Club's top priority. COVID-19 has pushed us to review our best practices and protocols in the areas of event and program safety," Kenah said. "As this situation evolves and changes, we will make decisions based on the advice and information the Club receives from health experts."
Participants who chose to pick up their numbers in person will be able to do so at the Peachtree Health & Fitness Expo on November 23, 24 and 25 at the Georgia World Congress Center. This year's Peachtree Junior for children ages 14 & under will be held on Friday, November 27. Registration is open now.
The AJC Peachtree Road Race will replace the Invesco QQQ Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon, 5K, Mile and Dash, which will be canceled for 2020. The Triple Peach Series presented by Mizuno will instead include the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon on February 28, 2021. Those registered for the Triple Peach will be automatically registered unless a refund is requested
(05/01/2020) Views: 319 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...As conditions in Georgia continue to change daily in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Atlanta Track Club is planning for the 2020 Peachtree Road Race to happen as scheduled on July 4.
Registration opened March 15 and will continue until March 31, unless the field is not full when registration is set to close, according to Rich Kenah, executive director of Atlanta Track Club and race director of the AJC Peachtree Road Race.
"If we see significant weakness and down the road, we see the opportunity where the sky is brighening a bit, where the outlook is strong, and we see the opportunity to bring people into the conversation who otherwise have been in the past, we'll evaluate that," Kenah told FOX 5.
Kenah said 2020 registration numbers in the first few days were better than all other years past besides 2019, which was the 50th anniversary race. There has been "a little bit of a slowdown" over the last week, but overall he estimated the registration total as of Wednesday morning to be in the "tens of thousands of people."
"About 20 percent of those who enter the lottery during the registration period do so during the last 48 hours, so over those last couple days, we'll have a true indication of the appetite for Atlanta for this year's (Peachtree)," he said.
If the race is postponed, Kenah said participants will be able to transfer their registration to a new date or request a refund.
(03/28/2020) Views: 339 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...With little fanfare, Tyler Pennel has quietly established himself as one of America's top marathoners over the past five years. Despite often being overshadowed by bigger names from high-profile training groups, he's won a national title, played a decisive role in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, and finished in the top five at an Abbott World Marathon Majors race. But he's also dealt with a series of frustrating injuries that have disrupted his momentum and left some unanswered questions about his true potential.
With the next Olympic Trials looming this winter, the 31-year-old Pennel will make his comeback at the distance on November 3, at the TCS New York City Marathon. It will be his first marathon in 18 months and only his fourth race at any distance this year. "I'm a little nervous," Pennel told Race Results Weekly in a recent telephone interview from Blowing Rock, N.C., where he lives and trains as part of the On ZAP Endurance group. "That first race back is always a shock to the system. A lot of it is mentally remembering what it feels like to race."
Pennel grew up in Golden, Colo,, and had an impressive career at Western State College (since renamed Western Colorado University), winning the NCAA Division II title over 10,000 meters as a senior in 2012. He joined the ZAP Endurance group shortly after graduating and made his 26.2-mile debut at the Twin Cities Marathon in 2014, which doubled as the USA Track & Field championship that year. He pulled off a surprise win that day, setting a still-standing personal best of 2:13:32.
He carried that momentum into 2015 with a series of strong results on the roads and track (including lowering his best in the mile to 3:58.99), and headed into the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials riding high with confidence. Perhaps too high. On a hot day in Los Angeles, Pennel took the lead in the 16th mile and forced the pace for the next several miles. The tempo ultimately took a toll and he faded to fifth place in 2:14:57, missing a spot on the squad for the Rio Games by just under two minutes.
"The Trials was my second marathon, and I think since I had a good first one maybe I was a little bit overconfident," he says. "Initially when I made that move I felt great. That first mile that I led I was almost shocked nobody went with me. That's how good I felt. It wasn't until after I started pressing after that first mile of leading that it really hurt."
Since that disappointment, a variety of injuries prevented Pennel from consistently training and racing. He's put together some bright spots, including finishing eighth at the TCS New York City Marathon in 2016 and running to a gutsy fourth-place finish at the 2018 Boston Marathon during the now-infamous nor'easter that turned the race into a cold, wet and windy war of attrition. But after taking third-pace at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta in July 2018 he didn't race again for 11 months, first battling a sacral stress fracture, followed this past winter and spring by a bout of osteitis pubis (inflammation of the tissues around the pubic bone). That's the same injury that plagued marathoner Laura Thweatt.
Pennel has been healthy since May, but raced sparingly during his preparation for New York. "The build-up has been really stellar," says On ZAP Endurance coach Pete Rea. "He was able to train through the summer and put together a full marathon build-up cycle. In terms of actual true consistency and healthy running for months and months, that had not happened for Tyler since 2016 until these last six months."
Pennel has been making adjustments to his routine to avoid injuries, including taking one day off from running each week. "If anything I would say he has really made a conscious effort to try to hit fewer home runs in training since, in some respects, that's what got him in trouble in the past," Rea says. "He's actually running more quickly at a lower intensity. He's working less-hard in terms of intensity, but it seems far more comfortable than it did a few years ago."
(10/29/2019) Views: 745 ⚡AMPThe first New York City Marathon, organized in 1970 by Fred Lebow and Vince Chiappetta, was held entirely in Central Park. Of 127 entrants, only 55 men finished; the sole female entrant dropped out due to illness. Winners were given inexpensive wristwatches and recycled baseball and bowling trophies. The entry fee was $1 and the total event budget...
more...Qualified athletes may now register for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, to be held on February 29 in Atlanta, Georgia, USATF and Atlanta Track Club announced today.
Registration closes January 22, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
About Atlanta Track Club .- Atlanta Track Club is a nonprofit committed to creating an active and healthy Atlanta. Through running and walking, Atlanta Track Club motivates, inspires and engages the community to enjoy a healthier lifestyle.
With more than 30,000 members, Atlanta Track Club is the second largest running organization in the United States. In addition to the AJC Peachtree Road Race (peachtreeroadrace.org) – the largest 10K running event in the world, the Publix Atlanta Marathon, PNC Atlanta 10 Miler and Invesco QQQ Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon, Atlanta Track Club directs more than 30 events per year.
Through the support of its members and volunteers, Atlanta Track Club also maintains a number of community initiatives including organizing and promoting the Kilometer Kids youth running program to metro Atlanta youth, honoring high school cross country and track and field athletes through Atlanta Track Club’s All-Metro Banquets and supporting the Grady Bicycle EMT program.
(09/13/2019) Views: 802 ⚡AMP
The 2020 US Olympic Trials for both men and women took place in Atlanta, Ga on Sunday Feb 29. Runners had to qualify by running certain standards beforehand. The trials are hosted by the Atlanta Track club. The course runs through the heart of Atlanta and past monuments from the 1996 Olympic Games Most countries around the world use a...
more...Having said earlier this month that he intended to contest the 10,000m title in the world championships for a third time.
Kamworor, who recently won Kenya’s national championships in the 10,000m, says he prefers to focus on the TCS New York City Marathon, which he narrowly won in 2017 over countryman and former world record-holder Wilson Kipsang. It was Kamworor’s eighth marathon. This year’s event runs November 3, which is only 10 weeks away.
Kamworor, who has also won the world half-marathon championships three times, made the announcement today, after winning the 10,000m title over Rhonex Kipruto and Rodgers Kwemoi in Nairobi yesterday. (Kipruto ran the fastest 10K time on American soil at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta last month in 27:01.
Kamworor was second in the 10,000m at the 2015 world championships, and sixth in 2017. The last time a Kenyan man won the 10,000m in the world championships was 2001, when Charles Kamathi took the title from Haile Gebrselassie in Edmonton.)
Sir Mo Farah of the UK has won the last three world championships, but Farah, too, has given up the track in favour of the marathon. He will race the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 13.
According to the announcement, Alex Oloitiptip has been selected to represent Kenya in the 10,000m in Doha.
(08/23/2019) Views: 774 ⚡AMPThe first New York City Marathon, organized in 1970 by Fred Lebow and Vince Chiappetta, was held entirely in Central Park. Of 127 entrants, only 55 men finished; the sole female entrant dropped out due to illness. Winners were given inexpensive wristwatches and recycled baseball and bowling trophies. The entry fee was $1 and the total event budget...
more...After coming up a little short in his bid to become the first person to ever win five Falmouth Road Race titles after claiming four in a row from 2014 to 2017, Kenyan Stephen Sambu aims to make history once again on Sunday, August 18, in the 47th running of the Falmouth Road Race.
Sambu fell shy of the feat when Canadian Ben Flanagan shocked the field last year to become the first North American to win the race in 30 years. Sambu faded to a fourth place finish in the 2018 race.
With Flanagan out of action with an injury, Sambu is considered the favorite, along with his friend Leonard Korir, of the United States, to take the crown. Sambu and Korir battled in one of the most memorable finishes in race history in 2017, with Sambu edging his buddy down the final hill in the Falmouth Heights to take the crown.
Americans Sara Hall and Des Linden will return for the 47th running of the New Balance Falmouth Road Race to highlight the women's field.
Sambu won the New Balance Falmouth Road Race every year from 2014-2017, becoming the first four-time winner of the men’s open division in race history. The runner-up in two of those victories was Korir, a 2016 Olympian at 10,000 meters, who will represent the US this fall at the IAAF World Championships. In 2017, Korir nearly denied Sambu his place in the history books in a fight to the finish that saw both athletes awarded the same time.
Sambu and Korir will be challenged by a tough international field that includes Thomas Ayeko of Uganda, who finished seventh in the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships; David Bett of Kenya, who won the B.A.A. 10K in June; and Silas Kipruto of Kenya, winner of the 2019 Cooper River Bridge Run.
Massachusetts native Colin Bennie, who was the top American at the AJC Peachtree Road Race on July 4, and Scott Fauble, a top contender to make Team USA at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials in February and the Falmouth runner-up last year, should be in the hunt.
(08/14/2019) Views: 925 ⚡AMPThe Falmouth Road Race was established in 1973 and has become one of the premier running events of the summer season. Each year the race draws an international field of Olympians, elite runners and recreational runners out to enjoy the scenic 7-mile seaside course. The non-profit Falmouth Road Race organization is dedicated to promoting health and fitness for all in...
more...Stephen Sambu of Kenya and Leonard Korir of the U.S., who together staged an epic battle to the finish line in 2017, and Americans Sara Hall and Des Linden will return for the 47th running of the New Balance Falmouth Road Race, organizers announced today.
The fields for the Wheelchair Division presented by Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod and the Aetna Falmouth Elite Mile will be announced next week.
Sambu won the New Balance Falmouth Road Race every year from 2014-2017, becoming the first four-time winner of the men’s open division in race history. The runner-up in two of those victories was Korir, a 2016 Olympian at 10,000 meters who will represent the U.S. this fall at the IAAF World Championships. In 2017, Korir nearly denied Sambu his place in the history books in a fight to the finish that saw both athletes awarded the same time.
Sambu and Korir will be challenged by a tough international field that includes Thomas Ayeko of Uganda, who finished seventh in the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships; David Bett of Kenya, who won the B.A.A. 10K in June; and Silas Kipruto of Kenya, winner of the 2019 Cooper River Bridge Run. Massachusetts native Colin Bennie, who was the top American at the AJC Peachtree Road Race on July 4, and Scott Fauble, a top contender to make Team USA at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials in February and runner-up here last year to Canadian Ben Flanagan, should be in the hunt.
Flanagan’s season has been cut short by injury, but he will return to Falmouth to speak on a Past Champions panel at the Health & Fitness Expo, hand out gift bags at bib pickup and run with a group of local youth.
In the women’s open division, Hall – who finished second here in 2015 – comes in as the reigning USA 10K champion, and in her long career has won U.S. titles at distances ranging from the mile to the marathon. Fellow American Des Linden, a two-time OIympian and the 2018 Boston Marathon champion, will make her Falmouth competitive debut after running with the pack here last year in celebration of her Boston victory.
“It’s beautiful,” said Linden of the course after her 2018 run. “It helps you forget it’s really hard. Some really impressive things have been done on this course. It’s cool to cover it, and it would be really fun to race it.”
They will face a deep women’s field, highlighted by a trio of Kenyans: 2012 New Balance Falmouth Road Race Champion Margaret Wangari, 2018 NCAA 10,000-meter champion Sharon Lokedi and Iveen Chepkemoi, who recently finished second in the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, N.Y. Also challenging will be two athletes from Great Britain: Lily Partridge, the 2018 national marathon champion, andTish Jones, who will compete in the marathon at the 2019 World Championships.
Allie Kieffer, who finished fifth in the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon; Melissa Dock, the top American woman here last year who competed for Team USA at the 2019 Bolder Boulder;Molly Seidel, the 2015 NCAA 10,000-meter champion; and Nell Rojas, winner of the 2019 Grandma’s Marathon and daughter of Ric Rojas, who competed for Harvard and at one time held the 15K world record, round out a solid American lineup.
Three-time winner Caroline Chepkoech of Kenya will not return to defend her title.
First prize in the men’s and women’s open division is $10,000, part of a total $126,000 prize purse for Race Week events, which include the Aetna Falmouth Elite Mile the evening before the 7-miler. In addition, the men’s and women’s winners will seek to prevail in “The Countdown.”
A beat-the-clock handicap race, “The Countdown” features a finish-line clock that starts when the first woman breaks the tape, counting down the number of minutes and seconds the winning man has to beat, according to a pre-determined formula. If the clock runs out before he crosses the line, the victorious woman wins a $5,000 bonus; if it doesn’t, the winning man takes home the money. The time to beat this year is 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
(08/08/2019) Views: 913 ⚡AMPThe Falmouth Road Race was established in 1973 and has become one of the premier running events of the summer season. Each year the race draws an international field of Olympians, elite runners and recreational runners out to enjoy the scenic 7-mile seaside course. The non-profit Falmouth Road Race organization is dedicated to promoting health and fitness for all in...
more...Last year, for the first time ever, a male runner from Ethiopia won the Quad-City Times Bix 7, overcoming the legion of Kenyan runners who always populate the field.
This year it might be time for a break-through from another African nation: Tanzania.
Gabriel Geay, a 22-year-old runner from the country directly to the south of Kenya, must be regarded as one of the favorites to prevail in the annual 7-mile jaunt through the streets of Davenport.
He already has had a phenomenal year on the U.S. road racing scene, winning the Lilac Bloomsday 12k and Bay to Breakers 12k in May and crossing the finish line first in the Utica Boilermaker 15k little more than a week ago. He also had top-five finishes in perhaps the two biggest 10ks around: The Peachtree Road Race and Bolder Boulder.
Geay first came to U.S. as a 19-year-old in 2016 attempting to run Olympic qualifying times for 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters. He narrowly missed in both but decided to stick around and run a few road races, and claimed his first big victory at Peachtree. He came back the following year to win Bolder Boulder and Lilac Bloomsday.
With the withdrawal of three-time Bix 7 champion Silas Kipruto from the field, there now is only one runner entered in the men’s field who has competed in the Davenport race as an elite invitee.
Kenya’s Kenneth Kosgei placed 12th in his only visit here a year ago.
Kipruto was seeking to break the Bix 7 record for most top-five finishes by a men’s runner — he has done it six times — but he informed race officials last week that he would not run because of a lack of fitness.
The Bix 7 men’s championship has been won seven times by a runner named Korir.
John Korir won a record five times (in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004) and Leonard Korir did it twice (2013 and 2015).
This year’s race will include Kenya’s Dominic Korir. Korir (no relation to the previous Bix champs), who may be better suited to the hilly course than almost anyone.
Dominic Korir trains at high altitude in Colorado Springs and in April he won the Horsetooth Half-marathon, a race that begins with a grueling 1.8-mile climb up something called Monster Mountain.
It sounds even more imposing than the Brady Street Hill.
Jarius Birech will be among the most experienced Kenyans in this year’s Bix 7 field.
He’s just not that experienced in races in which he isn’t required to leap over hurdles and bound across small pools of water. Birech, 26, was the top 3,000-meter steeplechase runner in the world in 2014, winning the African championships and taking the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games that year. He twice has run the steeplechase under eight minutes, a feat that’s only been accomplished 38 times in history.
But he just now is starting to become more involved in events other than the steeplechase.
He has shown promise, however. Birech won a major cross country race in Italy earlier this year and also won the Crescent City Classic 10k on a very flat course in New Orleans.
(07/26/2019) Views: 870 ⚡AMPThis race attracts the greatest long distance runners in the world competing to win thousands of dollars in prize money. It is said to be the highest purse of any non-marathon race. Tremendous spectator support, entertainment and post party. Come and try to conquer this challenging course along with over 15,000 other participants, as you "Run With The Best." In...
more...Spurred on by the chance to pocket $50,000 course record bonuses, Kenyans Brigid Kosgei and Rhonex Kipruto broke the women’s and men’s course records, respectively, at today’s 50th AJC Peachtree Road Race 10-K in Atlanta. Kosgei, the reigning Chicago and London Marathons champion, clocked 30:22, ten seconds under Lornah Kiplagat’s 2002 record of 30:32. Kipruto, the reigning world U20 10,000m champion, ran 27:01, just three seconds under the late Joseph Kimani’s 1996 standard of 27:04. Both athletes were also awarded $8,000 as race champions.
Kosgei had to fight for her victory right to the line. She was one of four women in contention at the four-mile mark (19:36), all Kenyans: Fancy Chemutai, Agnes Tirop, Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui and Kosgei. The quartet was still together through 5 miles (24:44), and appeared to be too far behind the course record pace to achieve the bonus.
“I think the race for the record is gone on the women’s side but we have an outstanding race,” said commentator Craig Masback on the NBC SportsGold broadcast.
Tirop was the first to be dropped when Kosgei accelerated with 26 minutes and 45 seconds on the race clock. Looking back a few times, she continued to press the pace and appeared to break away to try for the record alone. But less than two minutes later, Kosgei appeared to have blown up. Chemutai, the winner of the B.A.A. 10-K nearly two weeks ago, passed Kosgei. Seconds later, Tirop also passed her.
Gritting her teeth and clearly in pain, Kosgei found some extra energy and rejoined the fight. Using the downhill section of the course before the finish, she upped her pace and as the finish line came into view, and she and Tirop were shoulder to shoulder and running all out. Kosgei angled to the right just before the tape causing Tirop to cut left behind her losing a step. At the line Kosgei had a step on Tirop, but both women were given the same time of 30:22. Chemutai ended up third in 30:32.
Kipruto mostly raced the clock today. He passed through the one-mile mark in 4:21 (the lone pacemaker Brandon Lasater had already dropped out), and by two miles (8:25) only his younger brother, Bravin Kipkogei Kiptoo, was able to stay with him. Kipruto blasted through the 5-K in 13:12, and four miles in 17:19. His 5-mile split was about 21:50, which put him slightly behind course record pace.
But like Kosgei, Kipruto took full advantage of the final downhill section into Piedmont Park. Sprinting full-out to the line with his unique toes-out running style, he got the record.
“Wow, this guy is a sensation,” said Masback.
Kipruto’s brother got second in 27:31 and Kennedy Kimutai, another Kenyan, finished third in 27:56.
The top Americans on the day were Colin Bennie on the men’s side in 29:10 (8th place) and Emily Sisson on the women’s side in 32:03 (7th place).
About 60,000 runners entered the race today which was founded by the Atlanta Track Club in 1970 when only 122 athletes finished. It is now the world’s largest fully-scored 10-K.
(07/04/2019) Views: 835 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...His connection to the world’s largest 10K race, which celebrates its 50th running Thursday, goes deep.
Not only has Collins himself run it, but his father, Billy, ran in the first Peachtree in 1970. Billy Collins, who died in 2015 at the age of 64, loved the Peachtree, Geoff Collins said.Beyond that, Collins grew up in a family of runners for whom the Peachtree was an annual event.
Collins, himself a runner growing up who has one marathon to his credit, has memories that may sound familiar to many Atlantans. Members of the Collins family ran the 6.2-mile race in the morning, “and then we would have a huge family barbecue in the Briarcliff area,” he said.
“That was a great tradition for our entire family for a long, long time, centered around the Peachtree Road Race.” Billy Collins was no mere casual jogger, an identity that hardly existed in 1970 before the running boom took hold in the U.S. To be a competitive runner at that time required a different outlook and mindset, according to Jeff Galloway, the winner of that first Peachtree. Galloway went on to compete in the 10,000 meters in the 1972 Olympics and become an esteemed elder in the Atlanta running community.
“Even though the highly competitive, focused runners are still looked on as a little obsessive – or a lot obsessive –the bottom line today is that there are a lot of people who are running and understand the benefits of running,” Galloway said.Back then, there was no such consensus, at least among non-runners. It makes Billy Collins, then 19, stand out all the more.
Collins, in fact, blazed through the first Peachtree, finishing in 40 minutes, seven seconds, good for 19th among the 110 finishers, a group that has earned prized status as pioneers in a cherished event.
(07/02/2019) Views: 797 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...Thursday will be the 50th running of the Peachtree Road Race, a 10K that has become an Atlanta Fourth of July tradition. The idea for the race came in 1969 when Tim Singleton, then Georgia State University’s cross-country coach, and a few friends were driving back to Atlanta after running a Fourth of July race in Fort Benning, Ga. They thought, why not create one ourselves?
“July 4, 1970, was that first Peachtree with 110 finishers. We call those our original 110,” said Rich Kenah, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club, and Peachtree’s race director. (Singleton died in 2013.)
Now the event is the largest race in the country, with 54,570 finishers in 2018, and Kenah expects the number to be closer to 60,000 this year. (For comparison, the New York City Marathon had 52,813 finishers last year.) It’s a draw for pros, too, with $200,000 in bonus prize money up for grabs. The race has also doubled as the U.S. 10K women’s championships three times, and the men’s 10K championships four times. It even has its own shoe.
But what about the heat?, I asked Kenah.
“If you live in the southeast, you’re accustomed to hot, humid conditions through the summer,” he said. “It is what in part keeps Peachtree special.”
If you’re thinking of hopping in this year — too late. The race is sold out. You either need to be a member of the Atlanta Track Club, or gain entry through a lottery to make it in for 2020.
(06/30/2019) Views: 859 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...On July 4, Kipruto will be chasing an even-larger bonus at the AJC Peachtree Road Race —$50,000 in honor of its 50th Running - for breaking the event record of 27:04."I wouldn't put it past him," said Sam Grotewold, director of professional athletes at New York Road Runners, which puts on the Central Park race.
"You could tell (in New York) that you were watching something special even from the first mile or two." And that New York race wouldn't even be Kipruto's fastest 10K of 2018: In September, he won the Birell Grand Prix Prague 10K in 26:46, just two seconds off Komon's world record.
Set by Joseph Kimani in 1996, the Peachtree event record of 27:04 still stands as the fastest 10K ever run in the U.S. and is tied for ninth-fastest in the world. (The net downhill elevation of the Peachtree course means that times here are not eligible for official U.S. or world records.)
Kipruto said recently that his training is going well, declaring: "I am ready to tackle the race."Coached by the famed Brother Colm O'Connell, an Irish missionary at St. Patrick's school in Iten, Kenya, Kipruto finished sixth in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships earlier this year and is coming off a victory at the Stockholm Diamond League meet on May 30 in 26:50.16.
That's not only the fastest 10,000 meters on the track since the 2017 World Championships, but one of the fastest in almost eight years. And he's only 19 years old. "Distance runners run better as they get into their late 20s," said Jeff Galloway, winner of the inaugural Peachtree in 1970.
(06/29/2019) Views: 1,013 ⚡AMPThe AJC Peachtree Road Race, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is the largest 10K in the world. In its 48th running, the AJC Peachtree Road Race has become a Fourth of July tradition for thousands of people throughout the metro Atlanta area and beyond. Come kick off your Fourth of July festivities with us! If you did not get...
more...For the first time in its 48-year history, the NYRR Mini 10K, which takes place in New York’s Central Park on Saturday, will host the USATF 10K championships. Stephanie Bruce will step up to defend her national title, which she earned at last year’s Peachtree Road Race. (She was seventh at the Mini 10K last year.) If she wins, she will earn USD $20,000.
Bruce is also the reigning American half-marathon champion.
Americans Aliphine Tuliamuk, Emily Sisson and American marathon record-holder Deena Kastor, all past national 10K champions (Tuliamuk in 2017, Sisson in 2016, Kastor in 2007) will join Bruce on the start line, as will Jordan Hasay, Sara Hall and Laura Thweatt.
USATF.TV will broadcast the race live starting at 7:40 a.m. ET.
(06/07/2019) Views: 1,105 ⚡AMPJoin us for the NYRR New York Mini 10K, a race just for women. This race was made for you! It’s the world’s original women-only road race, founded in 1972 and named for the miniskirt, and it empowers women of all ages and fitness levels to be active and to look and feel great on the run. Every woman who...
more...The NYRR New York Mini 10K, the world’s original women-only road race, will serve as this year’s USATF 10 km Championships for women on Saturday, June 8, New York Road Runners announced today. More than 200,000 women have finished the race since it began in 1972, making it one of the most impactful women’s races in running history, and it will be the first time it plays host to a national championship race.
“The Mini is one of road running’s crown jewels, and by adding the USATF 10 km Championships to the mix, the 2019 race will be one for the books,” said Chris Weiller, who heads up professional athletics for NYRR. “New York Road Runners has a proud history of supporting women’s athletics. To host what is sure to be an amazing group of American athletes, led by Stephanie Bruce, is an honor for us and a privilege for New York City.”
Taking part in this year’s USATF 10 km Championships will be Stephanie Bruce, who won her first national title in her decade-long career in 2018 when the USATF 10 km Championships was hosted by the AJC Peachtree Road Race; she also finished seventh at the NYRR New York Mini 10K last year.
“The NYRR New York Mini 10K has a storied tradition and I’ve been racing it since 2009,” Bruce said. “It has long been one of my favorite events as a professional. I was thrilled to hear NYRR received the bid to host the USATF 10 km Championships in 2019. I look forward to lining up against a stellar field, as I look to defend my 10K road title from 2018.”
The 2019 USATF 10 km Championships will offer a $75,000 prize purse – the most-ever for a single gender USATF 10 km Championships – including $20,000 for the first-place finisher and will be streamed live on USATF.TV. The women’s 10 km Championships have taken place every year since 1978 and since 2002 have been a part of the USATF Running Circuit, which features championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners.
(01/17/2019) Views: 899 ⚡AMP