Electronic Timing Added for All Participants in the AJC Peachtree Road Race
Online registration also available for the country's largest road race

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Posted Sunday, 1 March, 2009

From Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director

ATLANTA - (February 26, 2009) - The Atlanta Track Club, organizer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, is adding electronic timing for all participants for the 40th edition of the 10K event. Previously, only runners in Time Group One and the seeded waves - approximately 7,500 runners - received timing devices with their race packets. This year, all 55,000 participants will be officially timed.

"We are always looking at ways to improve the event experience for participants in the AJC Peachtree Road Race," stated Tracey Russell, Executive Director of the Atlanta Track Club. "Providing official timing for all participants will give runners the opportunity to see how they perform in one of the largest road races in the world."

When race number packets are mailed in the middle of June, all registered Peachtree participants will also receive a ChronoTrack D-Tag timing device in their race packets. The light-weight, one-time-use D-Tag attaches to participants' shoes and is activated when they cross the start line. The ChronoTrack D-Tag system was recently used at the Atlanta Track Club's other signature event, The Weather Channel Atlanta Marathon and Half Marathon, this past Thanksgiving and was well-received by event participants and race volunteers.

"With an event the size of the Peachtree, using traditional forms of electronic timing wouldn't work because chip retrieval after the runners cross over the finish line often causes bottlenecks with that high of volume over a short period of time," commented Jon Hughes, President of Event Marketing and Management International (EMMI), the official timing company of the AJC Peachtree Road Race. "The ChronoTrack D-Tag system eliminates the need to retrieve the timing devices when runners cross the finish, and we are excited to incorporate this new timing technology into the largest race in the U.S."

In addition to adding electronic timing to the AJC Peachtree Road Race, another first for 2009 is the option to register online for the event. Online registration will open at 7:00am ET on Sunday, March 15 at www.ajc.com/peachtree. The first 45,000 race slots will be filled through online registration. For those unable to secure one of the online slots, an application will then run in the AJC on March 22, and the last 10,000 race slots will be randomly selected through a lottery from all the paper applications mailed in and postmarked by March, Tuesday 31, 2009.

The 40th running of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road race will take place on Saturday, July 4, 2009. The 6.2 mile race begins on Peachtree Road by Lenox Square and finishes on 10th Street near Piedmont Park. The race, a summer Southern tradition, will again host the USA Men's 10K Championship, featuring America's best distance runners.