By Kyle Dean/Sports Editor
TIFTON — When Ernest Lang lines up today to run the 40th annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, he will begin his 31st consecutive Peachtree event
The race is a 10 kilometer road race, which is equivalent to 6.2 miles.
“I love running,” Lang said.
And although many converge on “Hotlanta” to race, Lang sees it as an opportunity to “just run the event.”
“I used to run it as a race but now days, I am just too old to run it like a race,” Lang joked.
Over the last 31 years, Lang has seen the Peachtree event blossom each year, growing from around 10,000 runners in 1979 to 55,000 expected at today’s event.
“There are too many now,” Lang said.
“But it is well organized and it runs smooth.”
Lang was a football player at Tift County High School under Kermit Perry and Tommy Guillebeau from 1962-1964 and was also coached by Ray Broadaway.
Guillebeau served as the Executive Director of the Georgia High School Association, while Broadaway served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association for 21 years before retiring in 2008.
Lang will start near the front due to his qualifying time from earlier this year.
“The first group to go out is the world-class runners, then the sub-seeded groups, which are really fast runners,” Lang said.
“Then I will get to start. I am in time group one. There are nine time groups, and each group waits around six to ten minutes to start.”
When asked what his first memory was in his first race, Lang quickly responded.
“I remember thinking that there are some big hills up here. You don’t really see that kind of hills in Tifton.”
Lang’s personal best in Atlanta is 42:50 and “that isn’t great, but is fast to me” according to the runner.
Lang has been running locally with the Sunbelt Running Club since the late 1980s and the club helps the high school cross country team financially with proceeds from the “Run for Love” in August.
“We raise about four to five thousand dollars for the team every year, and that money helps send the runners to cross country camps during the summer.”
Currently, the group has around 20-25 members.
Lang ran last weekend in Patterson, and after the race in Atlanta today, he will run in three weeks at Lake Blackshear.
“I try to limit my schedule in the summer because it is so hot,” Lang said.
Lang says he has an extensive collection of shirts from races over the year.
“My wife made me put them in boxes and put them in the garage,” Lang said with a laugh.
Thirty years of running excellence.
