44-year-old Brea man wins Disneyland half-marathon

Kevin Broady bested the field of 9,729 runners with a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes, 29 seconds.

ANAHEIM – Kevin Broady worked at Disneyland as a teenager, first in the ticket booth and later as a ride operator in Adventureland, where he briefly captained boats on the Jungle Cruise.

He took a trip down memory lane Sunday and left the field in his wake in the inaugural Disneyland Half Marathon. The 44-year-old Brea resident christened the race with a wire-to-wire victory in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 29 seconds on a cool morning in the Disneyland Resort.

Broady was a late entry who sought a training race for early next year. That the event took place on his old stomping grounds didn't hurt.

"I really wanted to do this race," he said.

That was the sentiment of the 9,729 runners at the start, according to race officials, out of 12,000 entries sold. They came from 49 states and 15 countries to run 13.1 miles on and around the Happiest Place on Earth. Nearly half of the top 10 men and women were from outside California, and none could catch the local.

Broady, a former Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, defeated Benjamin Gomez Gutierrez of Mexico, who clocked 1:13:02. Mark Gonzales of La Habra was third in 1:14:55.

Gutierrez and Gonzales are 30 and 33, respectively, which motivated Broady.

Appropriately, both inaugural winners are approaching the half-century mark during Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Kim Jones, 48, of Fort Collins, Colo., won the women's division in 1:25:01. Another Brea resident, Edith Martinez, was second in 1:27:04.

Jones, a two-time Twin Cities Marathon winner, liked the atmosphere at the finish, where a grandstand full of spectators greeted her along with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She said the course had no ambiguities, which marred the 1995 Disneyland Marathon when runners got misdirected and ran a mile short.

DISNEYLAND HALF MARATHON

MEN

1. Kevin Broady, Brea, 1:11:29; 2. Benjamin Gomez Gutierrez, Mexico, 1:13:02; 3. Mark Gonzales, La Habra, 1:14:55; 4. Michael Goralka, Carson City, Nev., 1:15:40; 5. Jake Otis, Huntington Beach, 1:15:47; 6. Jeff Huxhold, Reno, Nev., 1:16:06; 7. Mark Donaldson, Trabuco Canyon, 1:16:36; 8. Michael Connors, San Clemente, 1:18:00; 9. Steve Olsen, St. George, Utah, 1:18:04; 10. David Dinielli, Los Angeles, 1:19:27

WOMEN

1. Kim Jones, Fort Collins, Colo., 1:25:01; 2. Edith Martinez, Brea, 1:27:04; 3. Jayme Ambos, San Bernardino, 1:31:27; 4. Christie Dubach, Atascadero, 1:31:44; 5t. Eileen Swanson, San Ramon, 1:31:57, Heidi Bathum, Sammamish, Wash., 1:31:57; 7. Meg Ervais, Mission Viejo, 1:32:02; 8. Elisa Maguire, Fresno, 1:32:41; 9. Brenda Williams, Cornville, Ariz., 1:33:01; 10. Jamie Rosenquist, Boulder, Colo., 1:34:36