Photo courtesy of Nancy Toby.
Participants in this past weekend’s Walt Disney World Marathon and Half-Marathon got some really chilly receptions. Unlike last year, when race officials repeatedly warned runners to stay hydrated and not overheat themselves, last weekend’s Walt Disney World Marathon and Half-Marathon happened during an official wind advisory with neighboring counties under a frost watch. The temperature at the start of both events hovererd around 37 degrees—near freezing!
But besides the weather, it appears that the bulk of the weekend went off without a hitch, even with the introduction of some major changes. For the first time, the half-marathon was held on a separate day, on Saturday, to accommodate its swelling numbers. In addition, the full marthoners were assigned to either a red or blue start that split the starting crowds to a manageable mass for the first few miles of the course.
In addition to the split of the two running events, the half-marathon had a revised course that pulled participants into the Magic Kingdom at about mile 5 instead of mile 10, as it had been in the past (and still is with the full marathon course). The biggest advantage with this change is that even the slower participants can manage to reach the Magic Kingdom without fear of being shut out of the park, as had happened last year. Unfortunately, this particular improvement comes not without sacrifice: the half-marathon course now focuses almost entirely on the Magic Kingdom, with the distance through Epcot relegated to a small swath between the International gateway at the edge of Future World, and Spaceship Earth. Gone is the magical experience of running through the left side of World Showcase at the start of the race (and seeing the IllumiNations globe spinning on the water)—for that, runners must now do the full marathon.
The new half-marathon course is “hillier,” if such a thing is possible in Florida. The new course seems to include an increased use of overpasses and onramps, including one in the last two miles of the course that were greeted by a few groans this year.
The most exciting change, however, appears to have been the introduction of Goofy’s Race And A Half Challenge. Around 3,000 people were goofy enough to take Disney up on the challenge to attempt both the half and full marathons, and for that, the finishers got the weekend’s most coveted bling: the Goofy medal (and Disney provided quite a bit of Goofy event-branded merchandise at the Expo).
[Let me say something here. I’ve done three marathons and a bunch of halves (the latter of which is my favorite endurance distance). Now, I don’t know that I ever want to do a full marathon a day after finishing a half. On an intellectual level, I know it’s possible to accomplish such a feat as long as I train properly… but it’s a tad daunting. That said, we quickly identified that the Goofy medals were on orange straps (while both the half and full marathon medals were on blue straps) when we saw a couple of people in Goofy medals on Sunday evening after the marathon, and more on Monday. And there was nothing I saw that weekend that was as brag-worthy as wearing an orange-strapped Goofy medal. (Well, OK, we saw one truly goofy fellow who chose to wear all three medals a la Mark Spitz, but if you win the Decathlon you really don’t have to wear your gold medals from all the individual events, m’kay?) It made me quietly tuck my own half-marathon Donald medal away in my carry-on, and made us wonder if we might actually be Goofy enough to get swept up in our own desire to acquire such bragwear in the future. I make absolutely no promises, however, and please, nobody try to talk me into it.]
Disney came up with a pretty smart way to process the Goofy finishers to ensure that they—and only they—got Goofy medals. At the Expo, Goofy participants were instructed to go to specially marked Goofy counters, where they received their running numbers, and got orange Tyvek wristbands (the type you get when you enter a nightclub, carnival, or queue for a limited-merchandise event). When these participants finished their half-marathons, they were sent to a special Goofy tent, where their orange wristbands were replaced with blue wristbands, indicating that they finished the half. It was only those people with blue wristbands who were then given the coveted Goofy medal at the finish of the full marathon. Pretty simple, and it worked. [I like this sort of simple-and-clever stuff.]
Marathoners Nancy Toby (left) and Jeanne Louise proudly display their mouse-shaped, full-marathon Mickey medals and their well-deserved Goofy medals at the finish area of the 2006 Walt Disney World Marathon. Photo courtesy of Nancy Toby.
One Goofy participant was Nancy Toby, from Arlington, Virginia. Although Nancy has done several marathons, this was her first full-and-half attempt, and she put considerable work into training specifically for the Goofy. Nancy successfully finished both, although she did start having internal dialogues with herself at about mile 20 on Sunday.
“My internal dialogue went like this:
‘I can’t possibly make it another 6 or 7 miles to the finish.’
‘Can you make it to the next mile marker?’
‘Well, yeah, I think I can maybe go just that far.’
‘Then get going already!'”
We should note that Nancy actually went beyond Goofy; she also successfully completed this year’s Chicken Little 5K Family Fun Walk, which was held on Saturday morning after the half-marathon was over. Unfortunately, the 5K started 20 minutes late with no explanation (except that they may have been still taking registrations), which was quite uncomfortable for people such as Nancy, who were cold and sweaty from having just finished the half-marathon.
Nancy does have Chicken Little bling to show for her efforts, though. For the first time, adult participants also got a medal for completing the 5K event. The medal has been appropriately referred to as the “rubber chicken” medal since it’s made out of pressed rubber.
All in all, the events of this past weekend seem to have gone pretty smoothly. We haven’t heard of any major problems, and the only sad story to come out of this weekend was the death of former professional golfer Willie Kane, who collapsed after finishing the half-marathon. An autopsy showed that he had suffered from a congenital heart problem and heart disease, and that the stress of the event likely produced a fatal heartbeat and cardiac arrest.
It was roughly a year ago that I introduced the Walt Disney World Marathon Guide. Since then, Disney has announced a new half-marathon event for Disneyland, as well as a new Minnie Marathon (15K) event for Walt Disney World. As the WDW Marathon as the core template, Disney may be expanding its fitness offerings from the realization that these events make great coattails on which families can return regularly to Disney theme parks (it’s worked for us!). For this reason, I’ve decided to continue publishing our marathon guide, this time expanding it to all Disney running events instead of just the WDW Marathon. In the coming months, we’ll give you more information about the Disneyland Half (if you haven’t registered, there’s still time!), as well as provide continued coverage and tips for the WDW marathon events.
Official Disney Press Releases
Eberly and White of Rochester, Mich., claim men’s and women’s titles over the event’s largest field ever
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Jan. 7, 2006) – On an unseasonably chilly day, Michigan runners Josh Eberly and Melissa White expectedly weathered the cool conditions and a record field to win the men’s and women’s divisions of the prestigious Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Eberly, 25, of Rochester, Mich., ran the 13.1-mile course at Walt Disney World in a time of 1:08:12 to lead a throng of more than 17,000 participants, the largest field in the 13-year history of the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. White, 24, cruised to the finish line in 1:18:34.
Eberly and White are members of the same Hanson’s Brooks Distance Project running club in Rochester, which dominated the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Hanson’s Brooks runners Josh Moen and Jeff Gaudette finished second and third, respectively, among the men’s division, and their running club teammate Dorothy McMahan finished second in the women’s division.
Bob Winn of Ogunquit, Maine took the men’s title in the Masters division (age 40-and-over), while Mandi Kowal of Iowa City, Iowa was the top women’s Masters finisher at 1:31:43. In the wheelchair division, Steven Kruger of Atlanta, Ga., and Kristen Messer of Austin, Tx., finished first among men and women, respectively.
The Walt Disney World Half Marathon was held separately from the Walt Disney World Marathon for the first time this year. The full marathon is scheduled for Sunday at 6 a.m. at Walt Disney World and is expected to draw more than 14,000 entrants, bringing the total number of participants for Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend to an event-record 31,000.
It took Eberly, Moen and Gaudette about two miles to work their way through the field before they made it into the lead. They paced the pack until the final half mile when Eberly and Moen broke away. Eberly narrowly edged Moen (1:08:12) at the finish line for the win in his Walt Disney World Half Marathon debut. Eberly’s winning time was the fifth fastest time in the event’s history.
“We decided to enter to get out of the cold weather in Michigan,” Eberly said. “The weather here was cold, but it was absolutely perfect for us because we’re used to running in cold weather in Michigan.”
White, who finished third in last year’s Walt Disney World Half Marathon, ran near the front with McMahan and several others from their running club for the first eight miles. Then White picked up the pace and left her running mates behind to easily win the race for the first time. Cassie Hintz, an 18-year-old high school student from Stillwater, Maine, finished third (1:19:22) after leading the race in the early stages. White’s time was the 12th fastest ever for this event.
“After I finished third here last year, I trained a lot harder coming into this race,” White said. “I’m really happy. This is a great event. Disney puts on a great race with so much music and so many people cheering for you. You don’t get all of that at other races.”
Complete searchable results are available online at disneyworldmarathon.com.
Brazilian Bastos Wins 13th Annual Walt Disney World Marathon Becomes First Three-Time Winner of Event
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Jan. 8, 2006) – Brazilian Adriano Bastos led start to finish Sunday en route to his third victory in the 13th annual Walt Disney World Marathon. Bastos, 27, of Sao Paulo posted a time of 2:19:44 to lead the field of more than 10,000 participants in the full marathon.
Bastos’s time was the 22nd-fastest Disney time ever, and his victory margin was more than 11 minutes over Tim Keller, 24, of Park Rapids, Minn., who finished second with 2:31:36.
This is the sixth time a Brazilian has dominated the race and Bastos is the first three-time winner. Of the 25 best times in the history of the race, the only three posted since 1995 belong to Bastos — in 2003 (2:18:33, 15th best), in 2005 (2:19:16, 18th best) and 2006.
Paige Higgins, 23, of Littleton, Colo. was the women’s full marathon champion with a time of 2:51:38. This Walt Disney World Marathon is the first marathon ever run by Higgins, a graduate of Kansas University. The women’s second place finisher was Amy Shertzer, 28, of Monument, Colo., with a time of 2:59:14. Shertzer, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and a native of Winter Park, Fla., was the 2005 women’s marathon winner.
Michael Mollod, 41, of Sarasota, Fla., earned a notable Master’s Division (age 40+) win in the full marathon with a time of 2:42:54 and a tenth place overall ranking.
Lynn Leonard, 40, of Ocala, Fla. was the top women’s marathon Masters finisher at 3:04:23. In the full marathon wheelchair division, Renzo Martinez, 41, of Boca Raton, Fla. and Kristen Messer of Austin, Texas, finished first among men and women, respectively.
First-time marathoners, veteran runners and celebrities enjoyed the 13th annual trek through the four Walt Disney World theme parks. “This is the greatest marathon I’ve ever seen,” said Kyle Petty, NASCAR driver and son of the legendary stock car driver Richard Petty. Kyle Petty was running the marathon to benefit his family’s Victory Junction Gang charity.
The Walt Disney World Half Marathon was held separately from the Walt Disney World Marathon for the first time this year. On Jan. 7, Michigan runners Josh Eberly and Melissa White weathered cool conditions and a record field to win the men’s and women’s divisions of the half marathon. Eberly, 25, of Rochester, Mich., ran the 13.1-mile course in a time of 1:08:12 to lead a throng of more than 12,000 participants, the largest field in the history of the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. White, 24, cruised to the finish line in 1:18:34.
Eberly and White are members of the same Hanson’s Brooks Distance Project running club in Rochester, which dominated the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Hanson’s Brooks runners Josh Moen and Jeff Gaudette finished second and third, respectively, among the men’s division, and their running club teammate Dorothy McMahan finished second in the women’s division.
Bob Winn of Ogunquit, Maine took the men’s title in the half marathon Masters division, while Mandi Kowal of Iowa City, Iowa was the top women’s half marathon Masters finisher at 1:31:43. In the half marathon wheelchair division, Steven Kruger of Atlanta, Ga., and Kristen Messer of Austin, Texas, finished first among men and women, respectively.
A record 31,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair athletes registered for the 2006 Walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon. Both events are among the 10 largest fields at their distance in the U.S.
For the first time in the event’s history, the marathon weekend included a Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge for participants who competed in both races and the overall 39.3 miles across Walt Disney World Resort during the two days. The runners who accomplished this impressive physical challenge received a special Goofy Medal in addition to the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse medals, which are awarded to half marathon and marathon finishers, respectively.
The 2007 event will again consist of a split-day format with the Walt Disney World Half Marathon scheduled for Jan. 6, 2007 and the Walt Disney World Marathon on Jan. 7, 2007. Registration for both races opens on January 9, 2006.
For more information, to register for the 2007 Walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon and to view complete searchable race results visit disneyworldmarathon.com.
