This year during registration for the Peachtree Road Race, the Atlanta Track Club removed their time standard table from their web site, making it unclear what time you needed to get into particular group corrals for the July 4th race.
Now that they are mailing race bibs out, the time standard table is back and it's clear that demand for Group A caused them to require slightly faster times for getting into the first non-seeded group in the 10K race.
Despite this, it became slightly easier to get into other stage groups.
This year, to get into Group A, you needed to submit a time of 47:39 for a 10K or 22:58 for a 5K. Last year all you needed was a respective time of 47:59 or 23:01 to get in. (In the recent past, all you needed was a 10K time of 50 minutes or better for Group A and 55 minutes for Group B).
This year, I submitted my 22:44 time from the Hawks Fast Break 5K and while I haven't received my bib yet, I think it will be good enough for Group A again.
A time of 51:05 for a 10K or 24:37 for a 5K is needed for Group B (last year it was 50:59/24:28). And for Group C, a time of 54:01 or 26:02 (53:59 or 25:54 last year) is needed. You can still compare the times with the 2013 time standards for the race that's still preserved on the Vinings Downhill 5K web site.
This year I printed out hardcopies of the time standards just for reference for future years.
Like any race (the Boston Marathon, for example) that uses time standards, if you're gunning for inclusion, it's best to set your sights for running faster than the standard since a glut of runners vying for qualification could cause the standard to be more difficult than in previous years.
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