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Peachtree Road Race: 'The Daddy of Them All'
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The 56th running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race is July 4. More than 51,000 will run the world’s largest 10K race.
It is an event as much as part of Atlanta as kudzu and Coca-Cola. The rise of this cultural phenomenon mirrors the explosive growth of the metro and region.
Atlanta legend, Olympian and running author Jeff Galloway will turn 80 in a week. He was for many years the key organizer of this extraordinary happening.
If someone were to ask, “Who’s the daddy of Peachtree?” The answer would be Mr. Galloway.
A few days ago, Jeff sent me an email.
“I was running this week thinking about Peachtree coming up, reflecting on the year that changed everything for the race, 1977.”
Mr. Galloway helped the race achieve status as a marquee event by bringing together world-class fields which, in 1977, included Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Don Kardong, and Lasse Virén.
International recognition came immediately to the Peachtree, while entries escalated from 1,200 to 12,000 participants by 1980.
According to the Atlanta Track Club, “The transformation actually began the year before, in 1976. Race founder Tim Singleton had stepped down as race director, leaving the race to Galloway and Bill Neace. Neace had heard that Cox Media executive Jim Kennedy was a runner. The door was open for the Cox-owned AJC and WSB stations to be involved.”
Jeff attracted the greatest runners through his many connections, then adding powerful Cox and the race could be kicked into a new orbit of importance.
“When we met with Jim Kennedy (future Cox Chairman), he got it right away, and wanted to sponsor the race,” said Mr. Galloway.
By June 1977, Peachtree had been transformed: Most 10K races in America then totaled a few hundred runners, but Atlanta would be different.
1976 Olympian Don Kardong told the Atlanta Track Club, “I think Jeff was ahead of his time in terms of conceptualizing the whole idea of what a road race can be in bringing in the Olympic athletes and encouraging everyday runners, too.”
Mr. Galloway had a plan, but it would take timing and some luck: “I invited my Olympic teammates — notably Frank Shorter. I expanded to others: my college teammate Bill Rodgers, and some of my competitors in Europe, Latin America and Africa. I also connected with my best friend, Geoff Hollister (3rd employee at Nike), who was working with track athletes around the world. He gave them my phone number.”
The word spread among athletes that something new was going on at Peachtree.
“I was on the phone every day with more athletes who wanted to come to the best field assembled in a road race with the possible exception of Boston Marathon.”
After 1977, a new day, the race doubled again and became a rolling party in the streets of a festive Atlanta.
“The phone then started ringing from race directors across the U.S. and the world. The usually starting question was "We want our race to be like Peachtree. How did you do it?"
This July 4th, Jeff Galloway will be readying for his 80th birthday and following the AJC Peachtree Road Race.
The AJC Peachtree Road Race starts in Buckhead and winds down Peachtree Street to finish in Piedmont Park in Midtown. Its trek through this community also travels through the generations, families, plus the hearts and minds of millions who have taken part. When it began in the summer of 1970, no one could have imagined its future, except for the first winner, the unsinkable Jeff Galloway.
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