Every Fourth of July, around 55,000 people run six miles through Atlanta in near-tropical humidity, up a hill named after a cardiac ward, to collect a T-shirt.<\/p>\n
Put like that, it sounds absurd. In practice, the Peachtree Road Race is one of the great days in American running \u2014 a citywide party that has run continuously since 1970, that Atlantans plan their summers around, and that has turned a simple finisher’s shirt into one of the most coveted pieces of kit in the sport.<\/p>\n
The 2027 edition falls on Sunday, July 4 \u2014 the 58th running, and the second under a new name after the biggest sponsorship change in the race’s history.<\/p>\n
Here’s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n
\n \ud83c\udf51 Running Peachtree in 2027?<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n \n Track it alongside your full race history. RunningLog helps you set goals, log your finish, and keep every race \u2014 including the annual traditions you’ll run for decades.\n <\/p>\n Start Your Free Race Log \u2192<\/a>\n <\/div>\n If you’ve run Peachtree before or read older guides, you’ll know it as the AJC Peachtree Road Race. That changed in February 2026.<\/p>\n After 49 years as title sponsor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/em> handed naming rights to Northside Hospital<\/strong> \u2014 the first new title partner in roughly half a century. The event is now officially the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race<\/strong>. The AJC remains the race’s official media partner, so the paper’s coverage continues; only the name on the shirt has changed.<\/p>\n Everything else \u2014 the date, the course, the Atlanta Track Club as organizer, the traditions \u2014 stays the same.<\/p>\n Official Name:<\/strong> Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race Peachtree operates a lottery, and it’s the part of the race most likely to catch out first-timers. There are, however, several ways to bypass it entirely.<\/p>\n This is the single best piece of advice for anyone who wants a guaranteed Peachtree entry: become an Atlanta Track Club member.<\/strong> Members get guaranteed entry rather than taking their chances in the lottery, plus a lower entry fee and better start wave placement.<\/p>\n In recent years member entry has run around $55 versus $65 for lottery entrants, and members have been placed in the earlier waves. Given that annual membership costs less than most race entries and removes all the uncertainty, it’s an easy calculation if you plan to run more than once.<\/p>\n Non-members enter a random lottery. Based on recent years, expect registration to open around 1 April 2027<\/strong>, run for roughly a month, with results announced in early May<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You’ll need to enter a credit card at registration, but it isn’t charged unless you’re selected. Groups of up to 10 can enter the lottery together as a team, which means you’re all in or all out \u2014 useful if you’re travelling with friends and want to avoid a split result.<\/p>\n Guaranteed entry is available through the Kilometer Kids charity waves, supporting Atlanta Track Club’s free youth running program. Recent tiers have been:<\/p>\n Worth noting: these are not fundraising commitments where you chase donations from friends \u2014 they’re straightforward paid entries that go to the charity. If you missed the lottery and genuinely want to run, this is the reliable route.<\/p>\n Employees of race sponsors receive guaranteed entry through a separate registration window that typically opens before the general lottery.<\/p>\n If Atlanta is your home base or you’re planning a bigger year, Atlanta Track Club offers a Triple Peach Series: complete the Peachtree Road Race, the PNC Atlanta 10 Miler, and the Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon to earn a Triple Peach medal. Registering for all three at once locks in the lowest price.<\/p>\n The route runs 6.2 miles down Peachtree Road from Lenox Square in Buckhead to Piedmont Park in Midtown. It’s a point-to-point course, roughly net downhill overall \u2014 and that “roughly” is doing a lot of work.<\/p>\n The opening stretch drops away from Lenox Square and is genuinely quick. With 55,000 people behind you and a downhill gradient underfoot, this is where inexperienced runners hand back their entire race.<\/p>\n Strategy:<\/strong> Go easier than feels natural. The hill is coming.<\/p>\n The defining feature of the Peachtree. Shortly before the halfway point the course climbs past Piedmont Hospital in a long, exposed grind that the race has nicknamed Cardiac Hill \u2014 a name that lands harder given the hospital sitting right there beside you.<\/p>\n It’s not a mountain. It’s a sustained climb at the exact moment you’ve warmed up, the sun has risen, and the humidity has begun to make itself known.<\/p>\n Strategy:<\/strong> Shorten your stride, drop your effort a notch, and accept a slower split. Hospital staff traditionally line this section to cheer, which helps more than you’d expect.<\/p>\n After the climb the course rolls through Midtown before turning into Piedmont Park for the finish. The crowds thicken, the park comes into view, and the last stretch is genuinely enjoyable.<\/p>\n Strategy:<\/strong> If you paced the hill sensibly, you’ll be passing people for the last two miles. That’s the whole trick to running Peachtree well.<\/p>\n This is Atlanta on the Fourth of July. Even with an early start, conditions are typically warm and humid, and for later waves it can become genuinely hard.<\/p>\n Practical guidance:<\/p>\n Take MARTA.<\/strong> This isn’t a preference, it’s the answer. Peachtree Road closes for the race, parking around Lenox Square is severely limited, and 55,000 people are converging on one point.<\/p>\n The layout is unusually convenient: Lenox station sits at the start, Midtown station sits near the finish. Trains run early and frequently on race morning. Some entry packages even include a MARTA Breeze pass.<\/p>\n The Peachtree Health & Fitness Expo is where you collect your number, and it has moved to Lenox Square \u2014 meaning you can preview the start area while you’re there. Bib collection is in person; plan for it, because there’s no race-morning pickup.<\/p>\n Wave starts are staggered across the morning, with the earliest waves going first. Check your assigned wave on your bib and materials, arrive with buffer for MARTA crowds and toilet queues, and be aware that later waves face meaningfully warmer conditions.<\/p>\n Every finisher receives the Peachtree T-shirt, and it’s worth explaining why this matters more than it sounds.<\/p>\n The design is kept secret until race day, changes every year, and cannot be bought \u2014 the only way to own one is to finish. Atlantans wear them for decades, and spotting an old Peachtree shirt in the wild is a small local ritual. For a lot of runners, the shirt is<\/em> the medal.<\/p>\n The design is also voted on, with the public choosing from finalist entries in the months before the race.<\/p>\n Atlanta Track Club runs several related events under the Peachtree name:<\/p>\n The first Peachtree Road Race was run on 4 July 1970 and had 110 finishers<\/strong>. It now draws more than 50,000, making it the largest 10K in the world.<\/p>\n The race grew alongside the American running boom and became woven into Atlanta’s civic identity in a way few road races manage anywhere. It has run every year since, and a dedicated group of runners have completed it for decades without missing an edition.<\/p>\n Course records tell you the race can be genuinely fast when conditions allow: Joseph Kimani’s 27:04 from 1996 still stands, as does Brigid Kosgei’s 30:21 from 2019.<\/p>\n You finish in Piedmont Park, which is a good place to stay a while \u2014 it’s Atlanta’s central green space and the post-race area is a genuine celebration. Nearby:<\/p>\n The Peachtree isn’t a race you run for the time. It’s hot, it’s crowded, and there’s a hill in the middle with a hospital next to it. You will almost certainly run slower than you’re capable of.<\/p>\n What you get instead is 55,000 people running down Peachtree Road on Independence Day, a finish in Piedmont Park, and a T-shirt you can’t buy at any price. Fifty-eight years in, it remains one of the best days on the American running calendar.<\/p>\n The 58th Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race takes place Sunday, 4 July 2027. If you want to be certain of a place, join Atlanta Track Club or take a charity entry \u2014 otherwise, watch for the lottery opening around 1 April.<\/p>\n Ready to add Peachtree to your race history? Track your goals and results at RunningLog<\/a> \u2014 and if it becomes your annual tradition, you’ll have every year of it on record.<\/strong><\/p>\n How many Peachtrees have you run? Share your streak on Instagram<\/a> or Threads<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every Fourth of July, around 55,000 people run six miles through Atlanta in near-tropical humidity, up a hill named after a cardiac ward, to collect a T-shirt. Put like that, it sounds absurd. In practice, the Peachtree Road Race is one of the great days in American running \u2014 a citywide party that has run […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-races"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runninglog.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New Name: It’s Not the “AJC Peachtree” Anymore<\/h2>\n
Peachtree Road Race 2027: Race Overview<\/h2>\n
\n Date:<\/strong> Sunday, July 4, 2027 (58th running)
\n Distance:<\/strong> 10K (6.2 miles)
\n Start:<\/strong> Lenox Square, Buckhead
\n Finish:<\/strong> Piedmont Park, Midtown
\n Field Size:<\/strong> Around 55,000 participants
\n Organizer:<\/strong> Atlanta Track Club
\n Entry:<\/strong> Lottery for the general public; guaranteed entry for Atlanta Track Club members, charity entrants, and sponsor employees
\n Minimum Age:<\/strong> 10
\n Established:<\/strong> July 4, 1970
\n Course Records:<\/strong> Men \u2014 27:04, Joseph Kimani (1996); Women \u2014 30:21, Brigid Kosgei (2019)<\/p>\nHow to Get In<\/h2>\n
1. Join Atlanta Track Club (the smart move)<\/h3>\n
2. The lottery<\/h3>\n
3. Charity entry \u2014 Peachtree with a Purpose<\/h3>\n
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4. Sponsor employee entry<\/h3>\n
The Triple Peach<\/h3>\n
The Course: Buckhead to Piedmont Park<\/h2>\n
Miles 1-2: The fast start<\/h3>\n
Mile 3: Cardiac Hill<\/h3>\n
Miles 4-6.2: Midtown and the finish<\/h3>\n
The Heat: Plan For It<\/h2>\n
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Race Weekend Logistics<\/h2>\n
Getting to the start<\/h3>\n
The Expo<\/h3>\n
Race morning timing<\/h3>\n
The T-Shirt<\/h2>\n
The Wider Peachtree Family<\/h2>\n
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A Bit of History<\/h2>\n
Is Peachtree Right for You?<\/h2>\n
Great choice if you:<\/h3>\n
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Look elsewhere if you:<\/h3>\n
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Beyond the Race<\/h2>\n
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The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n
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