The Atlanta Constitution du lieu suivant : Atlanta, Georgia • 81

SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 1978 Sfe Atlanta gournal and CONSTITUTION 19-D Peachtree Road Race Expects 1 2,000 in Everyday Athlete a Peachtree Road Race entry forms wiH be available at several sources alter May 1. They may be obtained by mail by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Road Race, P.O. Box 13608, Atlanta 30324. By KENT MITCHELL Seven years ago Jeff Galloway, fairly fresh from the Olympics and then a member of the Florida Track Club, won the first Peachtree Road Race in a time of 32:42. There were 109 other finishers.

If someone had caught Galloway at the end of the race and speculated that in eight years, hundreds would equal even better that time and a mind-boggling 12,000 would be expected to be at the starting line on July 4, 1978, he would have moved back home to Atlanta right away and opened a running shoe store. Galloway did, in fact, come home and open a shoe store, but never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would see 12,000 people lining up on Peachtree Road to run six miles. He gives a big share of the credit for the Size of that crowd to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which joined the Atlanta Track Club as sponsor of the race in 1976. That year, there were 2,330, finishers as compared with 962 the previous year, and in 1977, there were some 6,000. As you would expect, with 12,000 entries there will be a lot of familiar faces at the starting line in Buckhead.

The three most easily recognized will be Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Don Kardong. Shorter, Olympic gold and silver medalist, won last year after a six-mile long duel with Rodgers. The two burned out Kardong and Lasse Viren, the Finnish phenom, among others and then Shorter took away Rodgers' heart by nearly sprinting from the Regency to Central City Park. Those three and some more of the nation's -best runners will be competing along with everyday runners of both sexes and all ages in what Another improvement that should please the throng is the finish line. The chutes have removed.

Only the top runners will be required to finish in a certain area. The remainder have only to check the clock at the finish line, record-1 the time and head for the tee-shirt tables. The finish line will be blocked off after 55 minutes plus the additional time needed for the correc-tion factor to take care of the time spent ing still at the starting line. With 12,000 starters, it might take a while to get across the starting mark, but there will be -no special start for the fast runners or the', rumored two-heat race. It was speculated that Cj there might be a run for the big crowd followed" by the Shorter, Rodgers, Kardong types, but that might have spoiled the effect of running so nothing changes.

"We'll just try to keep everyone calm," said Galloway, now a member of the Atlanta Track, Club and one of the guiding forces in toe event He didn't seem unhappy about the size of the, 5 crowd, either. C-' "The whole reason for this is to get people" involved in something worthwhile," Galloway 43 said. Get involved, they have. Where a scant. three years ago a man running in his neighborhood was considered somewhat wierd, whole has become one of the largest road races in America.

It's big enough so that they no longer add Atlanta, Georgia," when they say, "I'm running Peachtree on July 4." Everyone knows. This year someone, probably one of the big three, should break the 28-minute mark. Whoever does can thank MARTA. Because of MARTA construction, West Peachtree Street will be closed, so the race route will be Peachtree Street all the way. Which means that the 14th Street hill and "Heartbreak Hill" toe stretch from the expressway bridge up to Baker Street will be eliminated.

There will be no broken hearts pardon the pun about that. Instead of some pretty beastly hills, Peach-tree offers relatively level ground. The only rough hill remaining will be near the beginning of the race from Peachtree Battle past Piedmont Hospital. lamuies are now running together. Will 1978 Be Another Rogers (L), Shorter Duel? And that's what the whole thing is all about a Schedule of Road Race Clinics JOHNNY WALKER'S pre soK Oisf ribofiors Vs.

GOLF BALLS, WILSON I $7.77 2 OOZ. $15.00 XXX-OUT GOLF BALLS, TOP FUTE, PRO STAFF OR ACGREGOR TOURNEY $5.99 DOZ. GOLF GLOVE, WILSON tEATHER BUTTON BACK MEN'S OR LADIES' FULL FINGER $2.99 EACH GRAPHITE DRIVERS HAIG ULTRA MEN'S OR $39.95 EACH SAND WEDGE, HAIG ULTRA $17.99 EACH GOLF SHOES, GREEN-JOY BY FOOT JOY PAIR March 8-Nutrition for Exercise Thru Vegetables. Lew Birdseye, PhD. Marches-Women's Training Panel of women runners.

March 22-Overuse Syndromes, Robert Crowe, PhD. March 29-Dog. Stories (prize to the best), Audience participation. April 5-Fitness After 40, Panel of masters runners. April 12 Vitamins: Should You May 31 The Atlanta Running Center, Panel of ARC directors.

June 7 Running in the Heat, David Martin, Ph.D. June 14 Foot Care Preventing Blisters and Injuries, David Apple, M.D. June 21 Nutrition for Health and Exercise, Panel of Runners. June 28-The Peachtree Course, Road Race Officials. July 3 Athletes Clinic.

April 19 Stress Fractures and Arch Problems, Irving Miller, DPM. April 26-Racing Techniques, Panel of experienced racers. May 3-Training for the Peachtree Road Race, Panel May 10 Positive Addiction of Running, Norman Abrams, M.D. May 17-The Shoe Wars: Which is Best1 for You? Panel. May 24 Training Techniques for Racers and Beginners, Panel.

-J a mm KNIT HEAD bOVtHSt, SET OF 4 GOLD SLACKS, DOUBLE KNIT, HUBBARD CONTINENTAL WAIST $7.99 PAIR MEMORIAL DRIVE STORE ONLY NOW 2 SHOPS TO SERVE World Will Watch Atlanta 4937BufordHwy. Chamblee, Ga. 458-1719 5561-E Memorial Drive Village Square Shopping Center Stone Mountain, Ga. 296-3791 What's Going On 13 BANKAMERICARD AND MASTER CHARGE ACCEPTED Dave Martin on Running THER NO-PLAC uim mm Question: Who is Georgia's fastest woman marathofierTu' i Answer: Atlanta's Gayle Barron, who ran 2:47:412 at West Germany in October of 1976. Question: What is the fastest marathon time ever run in Georgia by a.

woman? Answer: 2:51:30, run by Atlanta's Lisa Lorrain on the Atlanta marathon course in December, 1976. Question: What city in the world has the largest number of marathon performances recorded by women? Answer: It's a tie between Culver City, Calif. Waldniel, and Honolulu, each with nine. Question: How long will these statistics remain on the record books? i Answer: Very likely all will disappear on Palm Sunday, March 19 except for the title of Georgia's fastest, unless Lisa upsets Gayle. The Avon International Women's Championship Marathon Race will be staged in Atlanta that day, at 1 p.m., SCUBA DIVING Gulf Dive Trip.

Interested persons contact Greg Fisher, 232-0572. RUGBY Old White Rugby Football Club will plav Emory at Fair Oaks Park on Brannon Road at 1 p.m. Feb. 26. Atlanta Renegades Rugby Football Club holds practice Sundays and Thursdays al Peachtree Hills Park.

No experience needed. Phone Witch Wilkes, 394-6842. Old White Rugby Football Club holds practice al 7:30 pm. at Peachtree Hills Park. Phone: 233-8027.

Atlanta Rugby Football Club holds practice on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Contact Bob Brozier: 455-0540. Atlanta Women's Rugby Football Club holds practice on Wednesdays and Sundays. Contact Bobbie McCrackln, 633-5349 or 944-2282. Emory Women's Rugby Football Club holds practice Wednesdays and Thursdays at Emory.

All alumnae and staff members are eligible to participate. Practice begins at 5 p.m. Contact Jan McGeachy, 688-0937. BACKPACKING Georgia Outdoors South holds free backpacking lectures every Thursday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at I94S Candler Road.

Phone: 284-5337. Georgia Outdoors North holds free backpacking classes every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Phone: 284-5337. BASKETBALL Dunwoodv Baptist Family Life Center sponsors a free basketball program for men daily at noon. The center is located al Ml.

Vernon at Ashford-Dunwoody roads. Phone: 394-6755. Fulton County Dept. of Recreation will be sponsoring a women's basketball league to begin in March. Phone: 996-9145.

Briarwood Recreation Center is forming a basketball league for ages 13-14 at 223S Briarwood Way. Phone: 233-8923. WSRAPER energy saving contemporary tri-lev el you are bound to find the home that should have your name on its mailbox. We suggest you begin now Nowhere else can you find such a selection of homes for sale as are offered in our classified advertising section. Every day.

Even more on Sundays. Ones to fit your lifestyle. To fit your family. To fit your pocketbook. Whether it's a year-old restored farm house or an beginning at the Avon Building on Cotillion Drive.

This event will be virtually the Olympics of marathoning for women. Since the event currently is not on toe official Olympic calendar, women have had little opportunity to test their skills in this event on an international basis. But the top women from practically every nation having women active in the sport will be here to determine the best performer in the world that day in the spirit of international friendship through competition. Question: How was Atlanta picked as the site for an event of such enormous importance in international sport? One of the major reasons is Atlanta's limelight position in marathoning circles for several years, due to tremendous talent among the city's shopping for the home you want in the place you are most likely to find it. Shop in today's classified adver- tising columns.

make this international championship race go without a hitch. Question: Will there be a new world record established? Answer: Let's get our terminology correct. Just as with men's marathon races, the International Amateur Athletic Federation does not recognize an official world record in the marathon, i This is simply because no two courses in the world are of comparable difficulty, and records would be meaningless. Almost never is a marathon run on a flat track. But a world 'fastest' performance is considered, and this becomes equated with the world Then the answer is probably Final confirmation from the respective international sport federations are not all in yet, but informal correspondence with the top runners planning to come reveals an excellent chance that the runners who have been improving upon the world fastest time ever since 1973 may all be here.

That means that the athletes who have run the 20 best performances all-time may be toeing the mark in front of the Avon Building on Palm Sunday at 1 p.m., ready for action. If the day is cool, dry, and calm, Christa Vahlensieck's 2:34:47.5 may very well be bettered by her, or one of her West German compatriots, or perhaps even by a Southern girl! The race begins and ends at Avon, and circles around the northeast side of Atlanta for 13 miles in two loops that will each be run twice. International dignitaries, press, and television will probably occupy many of the key vantage points in front of the Avon Building. Race fans may desire to view the huge map of the course at Phidippides Sports Center in Ansley Mall and choose a spot along the route. One of the top spots will be the corner of Mt.

Vernon Rd. and Chamblee-Dunwoody where the runners will pass by four times. Much of the route will have only limited auto traffic; hence it is advised that people motor to the course on streets other than those involved. Avon and the Atlanta Track Club want to see as many women as possible compete in- this race. Hundreds are probable, judging from entries thus far.

Deadline for registration is March 10, and any woman is eligible and welcome; call 874-5746 for information. The underlying theme of the event is to have women of all ages and abilities and from all over the world compete and do their best in a spirit of good friendship and fitness. Atlanta can indeed be proud to host such a spectacle. RUNNING Fitness Clinic: Local athletes will conduct a clinic for runners at Phidiopides in Ansley Mall al 7:30 p.m. March 8.

Columbus Marathon, March 11. Entry deadline March 7. Contact Allan Taylor, 3700 Bridgewaler Apt. F-1, Columbus 31904. Phone 404-5563-0187.

Azalea Trail Run, Mobile, March 11. A road race sponsored by the Mobile Press Register. Entry info, contact Mobile Track Field 2900 Dauphin Mobile 36606. Stone Mountain Park Fun Run March 11 and March 25. Races from 'A to 6 miles.

No registration. 9 a.m. Run Into Spring, March 11 at Century Center Office Park (1-85 at Clairmont). Entry information at 875-4268, 434-5506, 491-0253, 766-6740. Leprechaun Marathon, March 18, 2 p.m., in Dublin.

Entry info, contact J.Y. Jones M.D., 505 Academy Avenue, Dublin 31021. Phone 272-5933. Peachtree Corners Road Race sponsored by the Georgia Heart Association March 25. 500 T-shirts will be given away.

Early registration Is S3 and S4 the day of the race. Register at Phiddipides or phone: 448-4942. Clayton County Parks offering winter classes in iogging and exercise on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon. SS fee.

Phone: 996-4156. Orienteering Clinic Competition will be held March 18 and 19 at F.D. Roosevelt State Park. Information phone iiiisyiil Gayle Barron Journal Covin Dixie Ukt tht Dta THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION 21 SoutoiStandard tuapettr SOFTBALL Fulton County Park and Recreation Dipt, is sponsoring adult soflbell in Sandy Springs area. Men's Modified Fast Pitch, Men's Ooen Slow Pilch, Men's Industrial Slow Pitch and Women's Open Slow Pitch.

Registration is S200 per team for the 10-game season. Deadline in March 1 Phone: 252-5633 or 252-6719. Smyrna Parks and Recreation Dept. is forming a slow-pitch soflbali league for men 40 years old and up. Phone: 434-6600, EXT.

217. auieies, ootn men and women. Gayle put Atlanta clearly into world prominence at Waldniel with her third place performance in 1976. That was the second international women's marathon championship, staged under the leadership of Dr. Ernst von Aaken, long a leader in the scientific aspects of coaching women's distance runners.

Only three women in America had ever run faster, four others in the world. And all of these will probably be in Atlanta for the Palm Sunday race, along with Dr. von Aaken. But Lisa Lorrain crowned Atlanta's claim as the queen city of marathoning shortly thereafter. Over a period of four months, from December 1976 to April 1977, she ran 2:51:30 in' Atlanta, 2:51:13 at Columbia, SC.

and 2:56:04 at Boston. Stat freaks will have to search diligently to find even a male runner with that kind of consistent quality. Another reason is that the Atlanta Track Club has gained an unfailing reputation for being able to successfully manage races of international caliber. Tremendous dedication by exceptionally talented people, as well as lots of race workers, have always managed to satisfy all the details of protocol that keep toe runners in the proper spirit for intense competition and at the same time guarantee proper direction of the race itself. Events such as the Peachtree Road Race have helped develop this expertise.

All this rather serendipitously culminated in a collaboration with Avon Products, which has long been a leader in promoting exercise and physical fitness among women, and which has a regional headquarters in Atlanta. Financial backing by Avon has made it possible to invite the world's finest women to the city to compete, and the Atlanta Track Club is now working night and day to complete the myriad details that will MISCELLANEOUS Atlanta Rowing Club Is offering instruction and boats for men and women of all ages. Club dues are 150 per year. Phone: 252-8293 or 296-7463. South DeKalb YMCA soccer registration Phonee: 284-0503.

Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League. For information phone: 634-0924. Atlanta Amateur Hockey League Information: Phone 952-0143, or write AAHL, P.O. Box 1564, Atlanta, 30301. DeKalb County Street Hockey League Information: Phone Fred Miller, 371-2631.

Atlanta Fencers' Club is offering a free Introductory lesson. Phone: 892-0307. Atlanta Whitewater Club meets the first Wednesday of each month at 8 p.m. Phone Helene Cohn tor Information: 351-7614 or 256-8961. DeKalb Firearms Range Facilities for rifle, pistol, skee, trap and 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Wednesday through Saturday, 1 p.m -6 p.m. Sunday. On Klondike Road, Lilhonia. 482-8965. (tea ftn? gvmaffnffljafftafl t- ir- 7 1 4.