Offering perhaps a sense of normalcy in the months to come, the Atlanta Track Club announced Friday that it will continue plans to stage the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race on Independence Day.
“The club has received no information from health officials indicating that the Peachtree is at risk of not happening on the Fourth of July,” track club executive director Rich Kenah said in a video streamed on Facebook.
The viability of the world’s largest 10-kilometer race was cast in doubt in recent days with the string of sporting events that have been canceled, postponed or suspended in the past three days because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
“We hope and expect to celebrate running and walking on Independence Day as Atlanta always does,” Kenah said in a statement. “The club has received no information from health officials indicating that the Peachtree is at risk of not happening on the 4th of July. But as Atlanta and the rest of the country deals with Covid-19, Atlanta Track Club understands the unprecedented situation facing public events.”
Kenah did recognize that alternatives or changes to the Peachtree may be necessary. He mentioned pushing the race back later in the year, eliminating the accompanying expo, “providing a Peachtree-like experience that is not the road race as you know it” or actually canceling the race for 2020.
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The AJC Peachtree has been run every Independence Day since 1970, its field expanding to 60,000 in 2011. The event has become an unbreakable Fourth of July tradition for thousands of metro Atlantans.
The field will again be held to 60,000 participants. Registration opens Sunday through an online lottery.
Kenah did say that all club activities will be suspended for the remainder of March.
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