The AJC Peachtree Road Race Returns In Person With COVID-Screening Dogs And Two Days Of Races
A long-beloved Atlanta tradition, the running of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race returns this Fourth of July weekend. Rich Kenah is the Director of the race, and joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes for a chat about how this year’s race will differ from years previous, with new safety measures and features.
This year’s event marks the 52nd occurrence of the 10-kilometer race. Last year’s race was moved to November as a virtual, Thanksgiving race. Many were sad to forego the feeling of communal tradition, but Kenah said, “As time went on throughout 2020, I think everyone recognized and realized that that was the best way to keep the Peachtree tradition alive, while also keeping everyone safe during this pandemic.”
The virtual race also had the unforeseen benefit of extending awareness of the Race and its charity beneficiaries well outside the state of Georgia, bringing in participants from all over the country. “That was the great upside to 2020, because the Peachtree is largely a local phenomenon, and any other year, 90% of the participants are from the state of Georgia.”
Over two days, the race will take place, with runners spread between July 3 and 4, to help maintain safe distancing between participants. “We used to be known as the world’s largest 10k, and that’s still maybe the case in 2021. But our focus is on executing the world’s safest 10k,” said Kenah. “We’re also doing some significant screening, so… if you are vaccinated, and you flash your vaccination card, you get what we call a ‘fast pass’ at the start line.”
COVID-screening dogs will make an appearance at the race, helping to identify carriers of the COVID-19 virus – a safety measure sure to be much more loveable than a nasal swab. “We did a significant amount of research with our COVID advisory group, and we learned that large events and venues around the country and around the world were using canines to screen for COVID,” said Kenah. “Studies now show that these canines who are trained to detect the smell of a COVID protein are accurate to the point of roughly 97%, a higher accuracy than PCR tests.”
This year’s charity registration option supports the Atlanta Track Club’s Kilometer Kids, a youth running program that teaches kids ages 5-14 about healthy exercise, community-building, and other life lessons. “[It’s] the opportunity to run the Peachtree in a very specific way… you pay $200, you get a nice extra t-shirt, you get a guaranteed waive upfront, and the balance of your dollars goes to offset the cost of our youth program… which gets kids off the couch, gets them moving, and hopefully gets them to love the sport of track and field running.” Learn more at www.atlantatrackclub.org/kilometerkids.
The course map can be found here. It will start at Phipps Plaza and end at Piedmont Park.
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