Walt Disney Marathon
By Art and Jennie McCafferty
ORLANDO_Santiago de Araujo of Sao Paulo, Brazil, repeated as champion at the 6th running of the Walt Disney World Marathon. Araujo finished in 2:24:29,a minute off his 1998 pace.The course record is 2:11:50. Chris Teague of North Chelmsford, finished seven seconds behind him. On the other side of the gender, 46 year old Marina Jones won "one for the older women." The affable Jones, she finished second last year, celebrated her 60th marathon with a come from behind win. She beat out med student Kimberly Fagen, passing her at the 23-mile mark. After taking the lead, she said to herself, "I do not want to be a bridesmaid this year." Saul Mendoza took the honors in the wheelchair division, his third consecutive win.
In the half marathon, Norwegian Perkristian Moerk lead the field with a 71minute 11 second time. Hans-Joerg Mueller of Buchs of Switzerland took second, coming in a couple of minutes later. Keith Brantly, last year's winner and the winner of $100,000 in this year's Pittsburgh Marathon, ran it as a fun run with his family. Taekoi Terauchi of Tokyo won the women's division in 1:13:04. She beat last year's winner, Joan Benoit Samuelson, who dropped to 4th. All race results are on The Running Network's website www.runningnetwork.com The database is searchable by name.
A record field of over 13,000 runners, representing 50 states and 35 countries, were greeted by an overcast sky and cool temperatures. The turnout gave WDM 7th place in American marathons. According to Race Director Jon Hughes, 55% of the 9000 plus runners were male and over 50% of the half marathoners were female, further proof that the running boom is being fueled by many women joining the sport. A cold front that had dropped down from Gaylord did not dampen the spirits of the 193 Michiganians who took part in the race.
This year's race had a "Call of the Wild" theme, with Disney celebrating its new Animal Kingdom. The course, which gets more interesting each year, was revised to bring in the Animal Kingdom. Cut from the course, this year, were a number of really boring cloverleafs and a long stretch of highway that would have been better served landing Boeing 747's.
As in the past, Disney invited many of America's favorite running legends, with Greg Meyer, Joan Samuelson, Jim Ryun, Jeff Galloway, Nancy Clark and Frank Shorter. Creigh Kelley, legendary "mike man" from Englewood, provided the voice of the marathon for the sixth year.
Courtesy of Great Lakes Sports Publications, Inc.
