Peachtree Road Race relaxes time standards

After making it tougher last year to get into the top waves, the Peachtree Road Race this year has eased back on time standards.

This year, a 10K time of 45:32 or a 5K time of 21:57 is needed to get into the first group called Wave A. Last year, you had to have a respective time of 45:23 or 21:52 to get into that wave. In 2015, the Wave A standard was 47:39 for a 10K and 22:58 for a 5K.

The time standards can be seen here.

Similarly, the Atlanta Track Club eased their Wave B standards by 38 seconds for a 10K, so you don't have to break 50 minutes for that wave. For a 5K, you can get in that wave with a time of 24:16, as opposed to 23:58 last year.

For the last several years, the track club's time standards have shifted yearly, presumably because of varying numbers of applicants for each start wave and to make sure each wave is properly filled and not too crowded.

Because the official standards are released a few months after the deadline to register has taken place, runners do not always know if the race times they submit will qualify them for a particular starting wave as those times may have in the past.

Without knowing the time standard for this year, I would have thought my 45:25 in Saturday's Possum Trot 10K would not have qualified me for Wave A according to the 2016 standards but it would have squeaked in by seven seconds this year!