Atlanta

Day 2 of the AJC Peachtree Road Race features wheelchair racers and Olympic runners

By WSBTV.com News Staff
By WSBTV.com News Staff

ATLANTA — Day 1 of the AJC Peachtree Road race featured some 13,000 runners, cool weather and some fast times.

Day 2, brought out the big guns: Wheelchair racers kicked off the festivities at sunrise and a large group of Olympic runners took to the streets of midtown Atlanta along with another 18,000 or so participants.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

It didn’t take long for the wheelchair athletes to finish the 6.2 mile course. Defending champ Daniel Romanchuck finished in just over 19 minutes.

Women’s wheelchair champ Tatyana McFadden was not far behind. The now eight-time champ finished in just over 24 minutes.

TRENDING STORIES:

The cool morning was a boon to the elite runners in the field as they flew down the course. Sara Hall won the women’s race with a blazing fast 31:40 time.

Channel 2′s Heather Catlin spoke to Hall after she finished the race.

“This is definitely my fastest Peachtree. I think the cooler weather today helped,” Hall said. “I’m in 10k shape and I was glad to be able to use that out there today.”

Men’s winner Sam Chelanga conquered the 6.2 mile course in an unofficial time of 28:42. He told Catlin, the weather had everything to do with his enjoyment of this years race.

“I love the weather today and I felt like sitting out last year,” Chelanga said. “I felt like it was good motivation to be out there. I love it.”

There were several other notable runners in Sunday’s field. They included Senator Raphael Warnock.

“I’m glad I did this, it was a great Atlanta tradition, every 4th of July,” Warnock said. “It’s the birth not only of our country but an idea. And it’s great to be out there sweating with the runners.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ran Sunday too. She couldn’t have been more excited to have the race back in person.

“Well, the crowd was not as large but the energy was just as high as it is every year,” Bottoms said. “And I think it was even more special for us because we couldn’t do this last year and to be back out feels normal.”

It did feel normal. Normal for most everyone Channel 2 Action News spoke to. We offer congratulations to all of the runners both Saturday and Sunday morning who got perfect weather to run a 10 kilometer race.

No word yet on whether 2022′s version of the race will be one day or two, but you can bet there will be plenty of runners ready for the next edition of Atlanta’s Fourth of July holiday tradition.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

©2021 Cox Media Group

Most Read