What goes into putting on the Peachtree Road Race?

“We’re chasing the perfect Peachtree,” Kenah said. “I’m not sure we’ll ever get there, but it is a goal for all of us.”

The physical setting up of the course starts months before the actual race. Atlanta Track Club works with the Georgia Department of Transportation to ensure the roadways used for the 10K are clean and level for both runners and wheelchair athletes.

Infrastructure for the course is implemented starting on June 24. A week before the race, fencing begins to go up from Midtown to Buckhead, then extends to Piedmont Park six days out. The first roads shut down on July 3, in front of Lenox Square in Buckhead.

It takes 3,500 Atlanta Track Club volunteers to keep the road race flowing. Jobs include everything from handing out race numbers at the Peachtree Health & Fitness Expo in the two days leading up to the race to welcoming participants on race day and helping runners cross the finish line.

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

The race also runs an Event Alert System (EAS), using color-coordinated flags to signal weather conditions to racers and volunteers, with green considered the best conditions then moving down to yellow, red and black, at which point organizers cancel the event. Kenah expects this year’s race to start on yellow due to high temperatures.

When the last racer crosses the finish, the cleaning has already begun. You may not see them, but the Department of Public Works (DPW) collects trash the whole time and keeps the course clear during and after the race.

DPW clears about 29 tons of waste during the race each year, from banana peels to water cups, with 33 tons of trash being the most they‘ve gathered in one year.

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

The cleaning begins at 9:30am with the combined power of 68 employees and a total of 13 street sweepers.

“When I first did the race as the strategic leader, it took me six hours to clean this entire race,” Tracie Chambers, director of DPW, said. “That is no breaks, just walking, cleaning. It is our responsibility to remove every piece of trash off the city’s right of way, out of all the flower beds, and out of all the flower planters. Anything that the street sweeper cannot remove, we have to remove by hand.”

Maintaining cleanliness during the race is the hardest part of the job for Chambers. However, the people moving in waves allow the crew to coordinate properly.

“It’s kind of strategic how the cleaning happens, because it’s happening during it all,” Chambers said. “People are so focused on the race and everything, they don’t even really see us. It’s like we’re invisible, but we’re there.”

Kenah said the race “truly takes a village” to put on.

“For us as the track club and all of our partners to create a fun, safe environment that is over 10 kilometers and do it in a way that impacts anybody up until 4:30 that morning, and not after 11 a.m. that morning is a feat that I’m not sure that any city could accomplish other than Atlanta,” Kenah said.