So there is runner 1 who ran for 100’s of miles a month for a year no matter the temperature, physical suffering and the time commitment from their families and friends. They ran other races to get qualifying times to get seeded in the Peachtree road race to get up front. They have worked hard to set a goal, a time, a mark of all their hard work in one morning. Their whole weekends plans revolve around doing well.
Runner 2 started a few weeks before the race and jogged/walked with some friends a couple times a week and spend the previous day partying.
Of course runner 2 doesn’t want to deal with the ‘hassles’ of starting in the back so they jump in after the Kenyan’s run past but well in front of those people like runner #1 and block their path and cause traffic jams.
Runner 2 is the Obama voter mentality of the world. He feels he is entitled to the same as the elite even though he hasn’t worked as hard but he feels he deserves the same privileges as the elite because everyone should be the same.

Though the timing chip will not prevent cheaters from getting a t-shirt, it does achieve several goals:

1-It adds legitimacy as the largest road race in the country and will become the largest fully timed race in the US (This can’t be bad for the city of Atlanta).

2-It is a service to many runners that want an official time for running a race.

3-It allows a participant (and their friends, family and colleagues) to look up race times online and prove (or disprove) that the t-shirt was earned.

The Peachtree Road Race is a unique road race. For most races you have to pick up the shirt at an expo, but these are mailed to participants homes (however there is an expo if you want to go). I’m sure sending t-shirts before the race would be cost prohibitive at this point.

Though cheaters are able to get the shirt (see point #3), the lazy bums that couldn’t even drag themselves out of bed don’t get a shirt.

The introduction of the timing chip was never intended to deny t-shirts, but to make the Peachtree Road Race a “race” for all, instead of the first 7,000.

There is a difference between 1000 and 1001. I guarantee you people want to be in the top 1000. In fact, I am one of them and I worked hard to get myself sub-seeded so I would have a better chance at meeting that goal.

So yea, if you are going to jump the course, at least do it when the other slower people are passing by. Don't just right in front of people running faster than you can for 1/4 mile.

It's called being nice.

What no one is talking about is perspective. Let's try.

I ran this race 21 straight times, beginning in 1984 (best shirt ever) at age 11 (45 min or so). I've run all time groups (except seeded), including sub-seeded. Fastest time was 37:20 at 17. Slowest time was 55:00 at 32.

At 55:00 minutes you are essentially given a number by lottery, meaning you can end up in any time group, even the last one all the way at the back. After 21 years i told my wife ENOUGH! I am not going to "fight" my way through slower people, not to mention the HUGE hassle of signing up early (pick up sunday newspaper on saturday and mail entry), traveling via marta to and from, dealing with making your way back to your time group, getting your t-shirt, etc. Thus, the last 5 years or so that i ran, i did what some complain about - i jumped in. BUT, i jumped in roughly 1/2 mile in front of the start AND i always waited for my respective pace of runners to come by. I feel i did not inconvenience anyone, but by boortz's logic I "cheated" by 1/2 mile (whoopdy-doo!). But hey I still ran a 55:00 (with the 1/2 mile added in). Most folks dont stand a chance of such.

The problem is like everything else in Atlanta. As a 36 yr old native i would say this place has gotten too big. I'd give my left testicle (seriously i would) if all the damn carpetbaggers would just go home already and take their liberal views with them.

The chip time is just for your official time and place.

Nobody is going to be denied a tshirt for this. It'll just stop the people who want to claim they ran it in 36:55 when they'd really be 55:36.

If you're tops in your category, you'll still be tops. (They don't give out the awards as you cross the line)

The timing chips will have zero effect on getting a shirt. For anyone who has actually ran the Peachtree, at the finish you are shuttled through the finish chute where everyone with a bib is almost immediately handed a shirt, with your bib being marked at the time you get the shirt so you can't go back and get more than one. It is a cluster at the finish, particularly in the back where the waddlers/walkers lumber across in an impressive 80 minutes or more. There is no way that the timing chip information will be relayed immediately to a volunteer "shirt giver" for them to then take the time to stop the flow of humanity to cross reference whether each and every runner actually ran the 10k, all taking place within about 60 seconds. The cheaters may not be shown in the "official" results, but they'll still get their shirt. The mug is where it is at, anyway.

Are what the organizers say are the rules. If you're chip doesn't say that you crossed the start and the finish, you don't get the shirt. If you don't like it, don't enter the race.

I like CO Runners idea of just giving out the shirts up front, then they'll stay out of the way of the serious runners.

Oh Steve, they can't even DRIVE on the right side, just less run....

I couldn't care less if the person who walked the whole race gets a shirt or not. The biggest problem is that the slower participants spread out across the road and force the faster people o zig-zag around them in effect running more like a 10K in extra distance. I's rather them invest in a helicopter that hovers over the race and reaches down and plucks slow people from the left side of the course and drops them on the right side. THAT would be helpful!! Or they could just give everyone cattle prods to jab slow people with as you come up behind and they don't move over.

The government says it's OK to cheat. These cheaters are just performing right along with their government officials.

Seriously people? We waste time and money on R&D for a chip to prevent people from cheating to get a tshirt. Nevermind that the shirts have been procured already. It is not as if they say "oh, we've had x number of people finish the race, lets order x number of shirts." They have the tshirts already. What a waste...

I haven't run in this one, but I have run in several other races...both with and without timine chips, and there's always an entry fee to enter a race. It's usually a bit higher if the timing chips are used. Cost of the chips are passed down to the runners (just like tax increases). Typically the sensor pads you have to run across (like being swiped at the supermarket checkout) are placed at the start line, a halfway point, and the finish line...and you have to cross all three of them or you are disqualified.

Are they going to verify a runner's start time in the finishing area? All 60,000 (or whatever it's up to now) runners? I just don't see how.

How much are they spending to keep someone from getting a silly tshirt? Maybe restrict the number of shirts to begin with.

I have run it for the past 13 years. I am not an elite, but I know the process to get into the front time groups. I have been in either one or two most of the times I have run it. It was amazing to see the sea of people jumping in - and all of them had bibs that showed them in the later time groups. So what you have is what you see everywhere in society today - you did not get what you think you were entitled to (and early time group) - so you took it anyway (jumping in after time group one started).

It will be very interesting to see what happens this year......