LPWire: New Records Set for WDW Marathon
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Patty Jansen of Mason, Ill., shows her excitement about being one of the record
22,000 athletes in the 2003 Walt Disney World Marathon Sunday, Jan. 12, 3003, as she makes
her way down Hollywood Boulevard in the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort.
10th Annual Disney Marathon Produces Fast Times
Two Records Fall While Brazilian Bastos Claims Overall Win
Brazilian Adriano Bastos clocked the fastest Disney Marathon time in eight years while two division records fell Sunday during the 10th annual Walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon.
Bastos, 24, of Sao Paulo, led from start to finish in
posting a 2:18:33 to lead a field of 16,000 participants in the full marathon. It was the
fastest winning time since Leonid Shvetsov of Russia set the Disney standard of 2:11:50 in
1995 and the 15th-fastest Disney time ever.
While it marked Bastos’s first win in eleven marathons, his performance continued the
event’s domination by international runners. Brazilians have won four times. Other
winners have come from Colombia, England (twice), Ireland, and Russia (twice).
Bastos’s victory margin was by more than five minutes over David Hinga, a Kenyan residing in Methuen, Mass., who finished in 2:23:40. Hinga was New England Runner Magazine’s 2002 Athlete of the Year.
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DISNEY MARATHON CHAMPION -- Adriano Bastos of Sao Paulo,
Brazil, celebrates after winning the 2003 Walt Disney World Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 12,
2003. The 24-year-old finished the race in 2:18:33. It was his first win in 11 marathons
and he posted the fastest time in the Disney marathon since 1995.
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Ronnie Holassie of Miramar, Florida set a new half-marathon record.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Holassie of Miramar, Fla., scorched the half-marathon field of 6,000 with that event’s fastest time ever -- a 1:07:45 that took nearly a minute and a half off the standard. For Holassie, it was his second Disney half marathon title: He also won in 2001.
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Wendie Orkin and Sean Cheyney of Barrington, Ill., exchange rings during their wedding
ceremony Jan. 12, 2003, in front of the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom during the
2003 Walt Disney World Marathon as Rabbi Robert Lefkowitz officiates. The bride fulfilled
her dream of a fairy-tale wedding in front of the castle during her fifth Disney marathon
at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The bride began the race with her
brother and met the groom at the in the rose garden at the Magic Kingdom for the ceremony.
The couple finished the race hand in hand and celebrated with family and friends at the
finish line with a champagne toast. Credit: Eric Larson/The Walt Disney Company
© Disney
Wendie Orkin and Sean Cheyney of Barrington, Ill., are all smiles Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003,
after being married in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom during the 2003
Walt Disney World Marathon. The couple was dressed head to toe in customized wear created
by New Balance that were made for running and a wedding. About 70 family and friends
attended the ceremony in the rose garden at the Magic Kingdom and met the couple at the
finish line for a champagne toast.
Credit: Eric Larson/The Walt Disney Company
Saul Mendoza of Wimberley, Texas, notched his seventh straight wheelchair division title -- in a record time of 1:36:39, bettering the Disney mark he set in 1997 by more than three minutes. Mendoza, Mexico’s athlete of the century for the 20th century, won the 1500 meter wheelchair competition at the last Olympics.
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Saul Mendoza of Wimberley, Texas, celebrates his seventh straight championship in
the wheelchair division of the Walt Disney World Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003, with
his 5-year-old nephew, Matt Lebkuercher, Goofy and Pluto. The 36-year-old Olympic
1500-meter wheelchair gold medalist finished the race in the record time of 1:36:39,
besting the old record he has held since 1997.
Women’s division winners were Bea Marie Altieri of Clermont, Fla., in the marathon (2:53:10), Julie Peterson of Beverly, Mass., in the half marathon (1:21:05), and Katherine Hunter of Alberta Beach, Canada, for the seventh time in the wheelchair division (2:53:40). Peterson hopes to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
The Disney Marathon is recognized for its unusual course -- a route that takes participants on a tour of all four Walt Disney World theme parks. The run begins and ends at Epcot.
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Participants in the 2003 Walt Disney World Marathon run through Disney's Animal
Kingdom in Dinoland U.S.A. under the watchful eye of a dinosaur on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003.
Complete searchable results are available online at www.disneyworldsports.com.
--Posted January 13, 2003
Source: Walt Disney World
Edited: LaughingPlace.com