Walt Disney World Marathon
| Walt Disney World Marathon | |
|---|---|
| Location | Walt Disney World |
| Event type | road race |
| Distance | marathon |
| Primary sponsor | Cigna |
| Established | 1994 |
| Official site | Official website |
The Walt Disney World Marathon is an annual marathon and weekend race series held every January in Orlando, Florida held by runDisney, a race series and division of Disney Sports Enterprises.
The marathon weekend currently (as of 2006) includes a 5K, a 10K, a Half Marathon, a Marathon, and the Goofy and Dopey Challenges (the Goofy Challenge is to run the half and full marathons, and the Dopey Challenge is running all four races). There is also a Disney Cruise Line add on 5K race, the Castaway Cay Challenge.
The first marathon, run on January 1994, featured 5,588 runners. This marathon was the first race that launched the Disney Endurance Series, which is now runDisney.
Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park was added to the marathon route in 1995. That same year, the men's current course record was set by Leonid Shvestov, of Russia, at 2:11:50. While in 1996, electronic timing was first used to produce race results.
With the 1998 fifth anniversary of the WDW Marathon having a them of “Herculean Entertainment”, the inaugural Donald Half Marathon is held on the same day until 2005. A corporate relay option was also added to the marathon. The course was again redesigned in 1999 to included the newly opened Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.
The first local resident, Bea Marie Alitieri of Clermont, won the 10th anniversary (2003) of the WDW Marathon women's division at a pace of 2:53:10. Brazilian Adriano Bastos began his eight-year streak of consecutive marathon wins in 2003. In 2006, the first Goofy Race and Half Challenge is first given with the full and half marathons were first ran on separate days, Saturday and Sunday.
The 2010 races set two records with the largest participant field (55,000) and the coldest starting temperatures (low 30s). Also in 2010, the first Pre-race Pasta Party and a Post Race Celebration were held at Epcot.
In 2011 the racers were allowed to vote for the medal design and it was the year of “Marathon Monday”. Bastos' winning streak was broken by Fredison Costa of Brazil. The 2012 year was the 15th anniversary of the Donald Half Marathon which saw the only running of the Walt Disney World Chip and Dale Marathon Relay.
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