ATLANTA — There is only one person on the planet who has run in every AJC Peachtree Road Race. Today, Bill Thorn of Fayette County went where no runner has gone before.
Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen spent the whole morning on the home stretch along 10th Street and watched the runners come across the finish line. Hundreds of them every minute and 50,000 in all.
Runners from Kenya and Ethiopia were at the top of the elite men’s and women’s divisions. A huge shoutout came to the people’s champion, Mr. Bill Thorn.
He competed in 53 in a row as a runner. For this 54th edition, he was honored as the grand marshal. They drove him up to the finish line in a sharp convertible. He climbed out and walked across.
He is the only person to run every Peachtree since this all started back in 1970.
“It seemed kind of unreal. That was nice of them having me do that. It’s fulfillment of competing and completing something!” Thorn said.
One more honor for Bill? They will engrave his name on the coveted ‘Peachtree Cup’ right alongside the race champions.