MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award Honors Julia Emmons

January 29, 2021

January 29, 2021 — Julia Emmons, who directed the AJC Peachtree Road Race for 26 years (1985 – 2011) and served as Executive Director of the Atlanta Track Club, has been named the 2020 MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Emmons led the iconic July 4 road race, which was the largest road race in the world for many years during her tenure and remains one of the largest today. The event is also one of the most competitive 10K events in the world, attracting many of the world’s elite 10K runners, and it has served as the United States’ men’s and women’s national championships. In 1996 she directed the marathons and race walks at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA.

Other highlights of her career:

• Assistant Manager of 1999 US World Track & Field Championship Teams
• Assistant Team Manager, 2004 Marathon Team at the Athens Summer Olympic Games
• Head Team Manager, 2007 World Indoor Track & Field Championship Team
• MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Race Director of the Year in 1989
• Chair of USATF’s Women’s Long Distance Running Community
• Georgia Track Coaches Hall of Fame Inductee
• Inducted into the RRCA Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2011
• Finished second in the women’s race at the 1972 Peachtree Road Race and posted a personal best time of 2:59:26 in the 20 marathons she completed

Non-sport accomplishments include:

• Associate Professor, Emory University
• At-Large Member, Atlanta City Council
• Phoenix Award recipient, 2006, City of Atlanta’s highest honor for dedication and service to the city.

“Julia Emmons helped define the directing of mass participation road races during the 1980s through the 2000s. Each year she started in the last wave at Peachtree to ensure the experience of the slowest runners matched that of the world class runners in the front row,” said Phil Stewart, President of Road Race Management. “Her selfless dedication to the sport in both race directing and administrative positions, and service to the city of Atlanta make her most deserving of this recognition,” he added.

The annual MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award is made for contributions to the sport of long-distance running over the course of a lifetime. Scores of nominations were received that read like a Who’s Who of running. The ten-member award committee had the difficult task of reviewing the nominees. (Click Here for a list of previous winners.)

Normally the award is presented at the Road Race Management Race Directors’ Meeting held annually in November; however the 2020 meeting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Road Race Management (www.rrm.com) is a member-based organization that publishes a newsletter and many other publications designed for race and industry professionals, and conducts a prestigious annual national race directors’ meeting and trade show in Florida. MarathonFoto (www.marathonfoto.com) is the leader in race and endurance sports photography and video.

Road Race Management, Inc.
Jeff Darman 610-925-1976
jdarman@rrm.com
www.rrm.com