Record-Setting Wins at Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon
Justin Scheid, 27, of Sparta, NJ (pictured below) helped himself to an unprecedented victory at the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night at Walt Disney World Resort. His time of 1:11:47 set a race record in the fourth annual event.
Second place finisher Valdir Camargo, 34, of Sao Paulo, Brazil clocked in with a time of 1:13:09, with Donald Hanigosky, 27, of North Royalton, Ohio right behind at 1:13:51.
Just before the halfway point, Scheid broke away from the lead pack and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way. His record time over the 13.1-mile course beat the previous mark by approximately 90 seconds.
“Around 5 or 6 miles, one of the (on-course officials) said I had about a 30 second (lead) and I tried to keep it the same through miles 7, 8 and 9 and I was afraid to ask somebody (down the stretch) how much of a lead I had because I was afraid they were going to say ’10 seconds.’”
Kristen Tenaglia, 29, of Seminole, Fla. also dished out an impressive win, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:23:37, a record in the women’s division. Tenaglia, a New Balance tech rep, posted a winning time that was nearly three minutes quicker than the previous mark. Abigail Parker, 30, of Reno, Nev. ran second (1:26:10) and Kristan Dietz, 29, of Madison, NJ made it to the table third with a time of 1:26:14.
Participants began the race at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and then ran 13.1 miles through Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios before ending their night at Epcot. Following the race, runners celebrated at a post-race party that is part of the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
Other weekend events included the Disney Jingle Jungle 5K at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, runDisney Kids’ Races and the Health and Fitness Expo, both at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The expo featured the latest running and fitness merchandise, equipment and apparel as well as seminars on training topics from experts such as runDisney training consultant Jeff Galloway and runDisney nutritionist Tara Gidus.
The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend was the final event of the year in the seven-race runDisney series. More than 163,000 runners participated in runDisney events in 2013. The 2014 runDisney series kicks off with the 21st Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna, a four-day, sold-out event that will include the new Walt Disney World 10K and the Dopey Challenge, which involves running the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon.
