Guide Front Pages - Georgia State University Athletics

Georgia State Cross-Country -Track & FieldThe Peachtree Road Race Bleeds Panther BlueGeorgia State has a long and storied history with the world famous PeachtreeRoad Race that is run every Fourth of July in Atlanta. The list of competitorswith ties to the university is long and distinguished, and stretches from the inauguralrace in 1970 to its most recent edition.Tim Singleton: Race founder, the former Georgia State cross country coach ran in 27 of the first 29 racesBruce LaBudde: Former Panther athlete and long-time coach, has run in all but four races with a best finish of 14th Place.Wayne Roach: Panther cross country runner that set a new record while winning the 1974 race.Gillian Valk: Former Panther runner and current math professor at State, won the 1972 women’s division.Andrew Letherby: Former Panther finished 6th overall in the 2005 race.Mike Fitzgerald: 1986-87 All-Conference runner for State finished 8th in the Master’s Division in 2005 at age 44.The founder of the Peachtree Road Race was Georgia State cross countrycoach and Dean of Men, Tim Singleton, who was referred to in a 2003 AtlantaJournal Constitution article as, simply, “The Peachtree’s Papa”. Coach Singletonoften spent his summer months looking for races in which to enter his athletes tokeep them in shape for the fall racing season. After taking athletes to Fourth ofJuly races in Columbus, Georgia, in 1968 and 1969, Singleton began to wonderwhy no race was held in Atlanta on America’s birthday. Early in the winter of1969-’70 Singleton committed himself to organizing such a race and placed it onthe Atlanta Track Club’s list of races for the year.Driving his trademark station wagon, Singleton marked off a course that leftthe Sears department store parking lot on Peachtree Road in Buckhead and headedtoward downtown. The original course ended at the Equitable Building wherethere was a fountain and plenty of shade. Other preparations for the race includeda pre-race information sheet, which was used more to promote the racethan to gather information about competitors. The other big step was lining upCarling Beer to serve as the sponsor of the race and help purchase the trophies forthe top 20-25 runners.Singleton and his staff, that could probably be counted on fingers, arrivedearly and parked in the Sears parking lot to collect the $2 entry fee from theparticipants in exchange for a racing number. There were 110 competitors thatran in the inaugural event, and, since the roads were not closed off, they remainedalmost unnoticed to the general public as they ran in the curb lane for most of the race. Singleton’s 9-yearold son manned the finish line, handing out place number cards with the first one going to future OlympianJeff Galloway. Galloway was first among the 107 men entered, while Gayle Barron finished firstamong the three women. Barron went on to win five more Peachtree Races along with the 1978 BostonMarathon. Bill Thorn, then a coach at Headland High School, is also a noteable finisher in that first race,as he is the only individual to run each of the first 35 races.Singleton remained the Race Director for the next five races and got more and more involvementfrom the Georgia State community and the Atlanta Track Club. The race really caught on in 1974 whenthe participation jumped to 765 finishers, up from 330 the previous year. Then, just as the race topped the1,000 mark in 1975, Singleton earned his Ph. D. and moved to Houston to teach, allowing the AtlantaTrack Club to take over race coordination. Today the race is capped at 55,000 runners.-20-