Mother Nature gives Peachtree Road Race a reprieve on America’s 250th
Heat and humidity couldn’t take down the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race and its 45,000-plus runners, one of Atlanta’s most enduring traditions.
Atlanta Track Club, which oversees the annual race in its 57th running, had sent out a red flag alert Thursday, and people largely heeded the warnings by coming hydrated and ready to run.
The good news: Despite weather forecasts of near record hot start times, the elite runners faced a mere 72 degrees at 6:50 a.m. The thermometer hit 77 degrees by 8 a.m. when a bulk of runners were on the route, and 79 degrees by the time the final wave of runners left the starting line at 8:30 a.m.
Humidity was elevated, making it feel warmer, but wispy cloud cover obscured the ascending sun for much of the early morning.
The sun eventually peeked through at 10 a.m., much to the chagrin of the laggards as the “how it feels” temp quickly soared above 90. As a result, officials at the time encouraged people to clear out of Piedmont Park, where the race concluded, as quickly as possible.
“Mother Nature made it difficult for us yesterday with thunderstorms at the expo (at Lenox Square Mall), but she gave us a break today,” Rich Kenah, who has been executive director of Atlanta Track Club since 2014, said. “I really felt like we delivered on the theme ‘Peachtree unites.’”
Medical tent visits, Kenah said, were normal and he didn’t hear about any major medical problems, though defending women’s elite high school division champion Bailey Brackett collapsed just shy of the finish line and was disqualified. Brackett was treated at the medical tent and went home with her parents, Natalie Cabanas, communications director for Atlanta Track Club, said.
The weather, he said, didn’t impact turnout. While about 56,000 people registered for the race, the actual number of runners who finished the race was between 45,000 to 46,000, the most since 2019, Kenah said.
Philip, Alissa and Maureen Cheek drank more water than normal, slowed their pace and took extra walking breaks.
“The last few days being outside for work made me think this was not going to be a fun time to do the race,” Philip Cheek said. Fortunately, he said, he was wrong.
One of the earlier runners, CJ Keener escaped the worst of it. She noticed the waves of runners were being allowed to start “faster than expected.” Clouds, she added, “helped out. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“It was great for me,” Trey Barfield said after the race, following a start time of 7:45 a.m. and finishing in under an hour with a group of family members. “We got in and out and got it taken care of.” It helps, he said, that he’s from Texas.
But Scott Laury, who moved back to Atlanta after decades away in Europe, struggled, finishing at about 1 hour, 6 minutes for his fifth race. “I had a hard time with the humidity,” he said. “My legs were fine but the cardio part was tough. This will be my slowest time I’ve ever had.”
The runners were blessed ― literally.
David Boyd, a priest at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Buckhead on Peachtree Road, has run the race himself. In the past, stopping for the blessing was one of his favorite race-day traditions.
“I had to come get that blessing,” he said. “Now I get to offer that blessing.”
Boyd said the response from runners was overwhelmingly joyful. While there were occasional humorous reactions — including runners shouting “I’m burning!” after being sprinkled with holy water — others took the tradition so seriously, they turned around at Mile 2 to come back and receive a blessing.
The race, for many, is a tradition. For others, it’s a bucket list item.
Despite running nearly 40 half marathons and a dozen marathons, including the Boston Marathon, David Kersbergen, a Fayetteville, North Carolina, physician, on Saturday finally received his Peachtree Road Race T-shirt, a vibrant yellow design created by Marietta artist Dyan Szall themed “We the Peaches.”
At age 60, it was better later than ever. “I just never got around to it,” Kersbergen said.
Spectators came to cheer and hold signs. “Go random stranger!” said one, while another encouraged his girlfriend with a cheeky “You aren’t slow. You’re getting your money’s worth!”
Others opted to inspire with music.
DJ Christian Childers, a Florida native, has lived off Peachtree Road for about seven years, but only now decided to show up for the race by blasting hip-hop and dance hits for the runners. “They just made it over the hill, so we gotta pump them back up at the end of the race,” he said.
Atlantan Parai Team serenaded runners on the final mile with traditional music played on one of the oldest instruments from India. Madhu Srinivasan and her band arrived at 4:30 a.m. and played for hours, with some runners diverting from the race path to dance with them.
While standard runners’ gear was the norm, a few decided to sweat it out in costume. A young man dressed as Luigi, the video game character. Another wore a Bucky the Beaver outfit of Buc-ees fame. The tooth fairy swept by, telling passersby to “brush and floss.”
Wonder Woman, aka Crystal Zimmer, finished her 10th race honoring the 1970s-era “Wonder Woman” actor Lynda Carter. “Everybody was so supportive and awesome,” Zimmer said. “This is what America is to me, celebrating and being here for each other.”
Robert Jackson 16, dressed as a hot dog, which is arguably an avatar for America. “I’m tired,” he said. “But I wanted to show up and be patriotic for my country and I thought this was the best way to do that.”
And a man in a robe and beard identifying himself as Jesus told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he is 2,026 years old.
But since this is Independence Day and the 250th anniversary of America, there were plenty of folks cosplaying in their best 1776-era threads including Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin.
A trio of Lady Liberties made it a walk, not a run.
Even those on the losing end of the Revolutionary War popped up: a group of British redcoats, led by Micah Wedemeyer, railed against the errant traitors on Peachtree Street.
“Shame! Shame!” he proclaimed to whoever was in ear shot. “We will accept you back!”
Wedemeyer said waving his Union Jack is part of solid storytelling: “You can’t have a good story without a villain. You can’t have “Star Wars” without the Empire.”
Despite the World Cup, Kenah said city officials managed logistics without any major glitches. “The city very consciously and intentionally pushed up our planning cycle so we had all the pieces in place before FIFA started,” he said.
— AJC interns Kaitlyn Harvey, Andre Butso, Sophia Eppley, Nila Roper, Alex Nettles, Dominique King, Estela Muñoz, K’mari Greene, Briley Johnston, Elijah Megginson and Carson Bonner contributed to this article.