Participants in July 24 Event Will Run Under the Olympic Rings - ATLANTA - July 20, 2021 – Just hours after the Opening Ceremony, Atlanta will celebrate its own Olympic legacy with “Road to Gold,” a 4-mile event along the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon course that will take participants under the Olympic Rings.
“Road to Gold,” first held in 2019 to give runners a preview of the Trials course, will be held just once every four years going forward, in conjunction with the Olympics. This year, it marks the 25th anniversary of Atlanta being honored to serve as the host city.
“There is nothing quite like the spirit of the Olympic Games, uniting us every four years in a quest for ‘faster, higher, stronger’ not only as athletes, but as citizens of the world,” said Rich Kenah, executive director of Atlanta Track Club and a 2000 Olympian. “As Atlantans, after hosting both the 1996 Games and the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, we feel that spirit more than most, and Road to Gold both celebrates that spirit and gives everyone the chance to come out and show it.”
Starting near Centennial Olympic Park, runners and walkers will get the chance to chase their own gold through the Downtown and Summerhill neighborhoods, covering nearly three miles of the Trials course on which six Americans – Galen Rupp, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Jake Riley, Molly Seidel, Abdi Abdirahman and Sally Kipyego – qualified as the first runners on Team USA. The women’s Olympic Marathon will be held on August 7, and the men’s on August 8.
Participants in Road to Gold will receive a medal, a commemorative shirt and a digital photo of themselves as they race beneath the 1996 Olympic Rings. For more information and to register, visit atlantatrackclub.org.
Photo: 2019 Road to Gold Event
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About Atlanta Track Club
Atlanta Track Club is a nonprofit committed to creating an active and healthy Atlanta. Through running and walking, Atlanta Track Club motivates, inspires and engages the community to enjoy a healthier lifestyle. With more than 30,000 members, Atlanta Track Club is the second-largest running organization in the United States. In addition to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race (peachtreeroadrace.org), the Club puts on the Publix Atlanta Marathon, PNC Atlanta 10 Miler and Invesco QQQ Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon and almost 30 other annual events. Through the support of its members and volunteers, Atlanta Track Club also maintains a number of community initiatives, including organizing and promoting the Kilometer Kids youth running program to metro Atlanta youth, honoring high school cross country and track and field athletes through Atlanta Track Club's All-Metro Banquets and supporting the Grady Bicycle EMT program. For more information on Atlanta Track Club, visit atlantatrackclub.org.