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Posted: July 13, 2006
Athletics: Julia Emmons Runs Last Peachtree Road Race
From Ann Morris
On Tuesday, July 4th, 2006, Julia Emmons ran her last Peachtree Road Race. After 22 years as executive director of the Atlanta Track Club (ATC), Emmons has decided that it is time to make room for the next generation to take the helm of the world's largest 10K and the second largest running club in the country.
"There is no Botox cure for my impending 65th birthday" she wrote to her Atlanta Track Club members in the latest issue of the club magazine, Wingfoot. "Thus, it is time to step aside to let the talented next generation take over."
Emory History Professor takes helm of struggling running club
Emmons looks back on her 22-year experience with fondness, awe and a little irreverence. In the spring of 1985, she took the helm of the 2,000-member Atlanta Track Club, leaving her tenured position as an Emory history professor. Her Emory friends, she said, "thought she was absolutely nuts." Why would she leave a tenured position at a nationally recognized university to lead the ATC, a local running club that boasted hosting the largest 10K in the country, but was nearly financially broke?
Peachtree Junior
Emmons took the helm and has never looked back. She went about the business of developing new opportunities to engage members in the ATC. For instance, when told by a few members that children running the Peachtree were struggling to keep up with the adults, she looked for an alternative. In 1987, Emmons introduced the Peachtree Junior race for children 7 to 12 years of age, thus continuing the ATC mission of promoting health and fitness through running. The race attracted 600 would-be Olympians the first year. In 2006, without promotion, the race attracted 2,000.
Most Memorable Experience
One of Emmons most memorable experiences was in 1990 when the Peachtree nearly doubled the number of runners accepted from 25,000 to 40,000. Julia has run the race every year to make sure she experienced the race as a "middle of the pack" runner. As she ran down 14th street into Piedmont Park, Julia held her breath wondering if she would see thousands of runners crowding into each other like the audience at a movie premiere as they were funneled into the narrow lanes of the Park. Instead, she saw thousands of bobbing heads still racing to the finish line to win their coveted t-shirt. "I run inconspicuously. But when I saw all those bobbing heads, well, I jumped up and down in delight and cheered. The runners around me thought I had gone mad."
Dorothy and Frank
After 1990, the ATC membership and the Peachtree Road Race continued to grow in popularity under the careful guidance of its executive director. "Every tweak we made to the Peachtree, I would wonder how Dorothy and Frank would feel about it." Dorothy and Frank are Emmons' imaginary runners who are slightly out of shape joggers for whom earning the Peachtree T-shirt is an annual goal and a big deal. She screened every change through the imaginary couple to ensure that the Peachtree experience is enhanced. Emmons commitment to promoting health through running, and carefully protecting every aspect of the race for the experience of the runners, are the reasons why the Peachtree continues to be a 4th of July tradition chosen by thousands of families every year. This commitment also distinguishes Peachtree from the road races that are designed as marketing and fundraising events. "Each and every one of the 55,000 runners is personally important to me" added Emmons.
Olympic Games to Atlanta City Council
In 1996, Emmons became the first and only woman asked to direct an Olympic Marathon. She was later selected by USATF to be a coach for the 2004 U.S women's Olympic track and field team. In between her Olympic experiences, she ran and won the at-large seat for the Atlanta City Council with 67% of the vote. Coming from a long line of civic servants, Emmons felt running for office or working for USATF was part of her obligation to give back to the community and the sport of running that had given so much to her life.
A Great Run
On July 4th, Emmons again ran among the throngs of Peachtree fans in Time Group 3 who probably did not notice this small, 102-pound redhead who has so carefully protected their running tradition from becoming a commercialized marketing event. They did not see her watching for water stops that made them wait or sprinklers that were too forceful or dullish stretches along the course where they needed a peppy band to keep going. But when Emmons ran down 10th street toward her last Peachtree finish, they may have heard this small woman yell with joy as she imagined Dorothy and Frank cross the finish line one last time.
Thank you, Julia for a great run.
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.
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