Sports

Peachtree Road Race Adds 5,000 Runners This Year

Atlanta Track Club also seeking sustainability certification.

The Peachtree Road Race will reach new heights this year with 5,000 additional runners, bringing a total of 60,000 participants to the start area in Buckhead on July 4.

Known as the biggest 10K in the world, the race is growing for the first time since 1998, when the field increased to 55,000.

Tracey Russell, race director for the Buckhead-based Atlanta Track Club, said course changes were made last year to determine if the race could accommodate the additional runners. “That’s why we felt confident that another 5,000 could be included,” she said.

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Even so, 2,000 applicants were turned away, she said, although as many as 10,000 plus have been turned away in the past. The ATC this year also went to an online lottery system to determine who would make  the field. For more on the Peachtree, including a map of street closures the morning of the race, see the Peachtree Road Race website.

Also this year, the track club is applying for certification as a sustainable event with the Council for Responsible Sport. If certified, the Peachtree would join such events receiving the designation as the Marine Corps Marathon, the Big Sur International Marathon, the Lilac Bloomsday run in Spokane, Wash., and the Chicago International Marathon, according to a track club release.

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To be certified, an event must meet minimum standards in Waste, Climate, Materials and Equipment, Community and Outreach, and Health Promotion. Monitors will attend the race to observe the Peachtree’s efforts.

The ATC already has a good start on receiving the certification, recyling all trash at the start and finish of the race, sharing and reusing equipment and promotion MARTA use. The main extra push is  getting participants more involved in recycling.

This year, the club seeks participation of participants in sustainability efforts through recycling and composting stations at the race’s start and finish, the recycling of used water cups, reducing the use of waste and increasing the amount of recycled waste, collecting and recycling used shoes at the Peachtree Health and Fitness Expo, promoting the recycling of D-Tags in the finish area, providing compostable food service products and including the use of alternative-fuel vehicles. For more on the certification program, see this link to the Council for Reponsible Sport's Website.  


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