AJC Peachtree Road Race online registration closed; 10,000 spots still available

Online registration for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race closed about 2 p.m. Sunday after 45,000 people signed up for the Fourth of July race.

Online registration was slowed down by technical problems early Sunday morning but got back on track after two hours.

For those who did not register online, next Sunday’s AJC will contain the traditional printed registration form. The final 10,000 entrants will be selected at random from forms postmarked by March 31.

This was the first year of online registration for the 10-kilometer race. Registration opened at 7 a.m., but some applicants got an error message because of problems with Active.com, the event’s online registration vendor, said Tracey Russell, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club.

“Active.com experienced problems with two of their servers in the pool,” Russell said. “When those servers were taken out of the pool, we were able to get back to full capacity. Unfortunately, at this time, we don’t have the official diagnostics back regarding what caused the issues that some registrants experienced this morning.”

Apologies were issued to registrants by Russell, Active.com CEO Dave Alberga and Hyde Post, vice president of Internet at the AJC.

About 1,000 people complained to the track club, said club spokeswoman Tracy Lott. AJC offices fielded about 550 e-mails and about 300 telephone calls related to race registration.

Now the AJC.com Reebok Running Shoe Contest opens at www.ajc.com/peachtree. Those who enter can vote — once a day — on one of five designs for the T-shirts given to those who finish the road race. The winner of the running shoe contest will receive a pair of special edition AJC Peachtree Road Race Reebok Running Shoes while nine runners up will receive premium running shoes. Both the contest and voting will continue through April 30.

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