Major division winners of the 2026 Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race

As the sun began to rise over the Atlanta skyline on the nation’s 250th birthday, racers, soaking with sweat from head to toe, were locked stride for stride with one another during the 2026 Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race.

Although the race hosted more than 50,000 attendees, the real battle was in the men’s and women’s elite divisions, where three groups of participants — wheelchair, adult and high school — all had one goal in mind: finishing first.

The Shepherd Center Elite Wheelchair Division started the festivities, with Daniel Romanchuk and Tatyana McFadden winning the men’s and women’s races.

Romanchuk crossed the finish line in 19 minutes, nearly a full minute faster than second-place finisher Aaron Pike. The win marks Romanchuk’s ninth all-time win in Atlanta.

“To be honest, I don’t even look,” he said of his approach to the course at Friday’s Elite Athlete Press Event. “I just nix out all of it, just looking at the roads, making sure that you’re taking a good line down the hill and watching if anyone’s around you.”

Meanwhile, McFadden cruised to her ninth all-time victory in the Peachtree race with a final time of 23:02. She clinched her first wheelchair division title since 2021, after Susannah Scaroni, who had won the past four wheelchair crowns, chose not to defend her title. Scaroni is expecting the birth of her first child.

“I love coming back to this race. I love the challenge of the course,” McFadden said at the Atlanta Track Club’s Elite Athlete Press Event. “I love the challenge of the competition. I love the partnership with (the) Shepherd (Center) and Northside Hospital. I think those are so important two partnerships, to really show people what’s possible.”

Shortly after the wheelchair races wrapped up, the elite men’s and women’s adult runners made their way to the finish line. Both groups had very close finishes; ultimately, Patrick Kiprop and Tsigie Gebreselama emerged victorious.

​Kiprop defended his title with a final time of 27:37, averaging a 4:27 mile. On the women’s side, a new champion was crowned after Gebreselama crossed the finish line at 31:02 — 1 second faster than second-place finisher Melknat Wudu’s 31:03 time.