Castaway Cay Challenge

CamColt

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Aug 7, 2000
For anyone who has done the CC Challenge, was there anything special offered for runners on the cruise? I happened to see a video that looked like a reception or party type thing, possibly in Evolution, but it was hard to tell if that is what it actually was.Thanks for any info!
 
The ONLY thing they had for us last January was a meeting in one of the rooms with theater-type seating and a stage (no recollection of where it was), where they proceeded to confuse and annoy us LOL. ("if we can't dock, we'll still all meet in the theater and we'll hand out food and medals!" like runners want medals just handed to them...never occured to them to maybe have the run on the running deck) ("don't take your other medals off the ship, and there will be backdrops to take your pictures in front of on the island!" never realizing that if you just did a *challenge* involving more than one run, you want your picture with ALL your medals...thankfully Cruise Director Christiaan stepped in and said they would create space ON the ship, after the Challenge, for the backdrops so you could get your picture with all the medals without having to bring them all off.)

POST-run they had ONE drink special, some acai or chia or something like that smoothie. Thanks, helpful for AFTER the run, oh no, it has nothing recovery-ish in it.

Yeah, nothing.

Maybe they had something in February for Princess. Not sure. They aren't having the Challenge for Princess 2016, though. Just after the January marathon weekend.
 
Thanks for the info. That is good to know. Do you know why they didn't want you taking the medals off the ship? I don't plan to run with mine (from the marathon) but after I go back to the ship to clean up I was planning to take it off then for a picture with the ship in the background. If I run a marathon and survive I may never part with that medal. ;)
 
There's nowhere to put them unless your family wants to get off the ship with you.

If they do it the same...you meet up at 5am,and your family and friends cannot leave the ship until after the challenge is done and people have reboarded and the ship is officially cleared.. So that's an early morning (it was still dark when we left the ship) for a non runner.

And I once ran a race locally with a guy with about10 medals on and I (am already irritable runner) nearly went out of my mind listening to him. :)
 


I did the Princess one. We had the same pre-meeting. Jeff Galloway was onboard and did some Q&A along with the runDisney people giving instructions. The day after the race, they hosted a cocktail reception in one of the bars (I forget the name, possibly Evolution). The backdrops and Cinderella were there for pics. Lots of people had their medal hauls with them. Jeff was taking pics with everyone too.

As for the race, I can't recall seeing anyone with their other medals immediately after finishing - if they had them, then I think they must have run with them.

It doesn't surprise me that they aren't holding the Princess one again. I think it was maybe 200 runners total. It was a blast though - we felt like we were doing something special (and at much cooler temps than the "regular" Castaway 5K that ran almost 3 hours later than ours).
 
Oh ok so it's basically they don't want you running with your previous medals. That makes perfect sense. I certainly wouldn't want to do that. I'm planning on taking it with me after I go back and clean up and then get off the ship again.
Thats probably what I saw then, alexce. Thanks for the info! Do you happen to know what time of day it was held?
 
Hiya! So I haven't done the Cast Away Cay challenge since the PHM combo. So previously there was no flash or any extra cool things. And I think the only time they do is when its an added challenge post a major race event weekend. I do remember them offering a drink special and they have merchandise at the end. They have also snazzed up the medals. They used to be a plastic DCL mickey head that you could get on trivia nights etc. Now they seem to be the rubbery ones that you get from any 5k you do. Which is much nicer! :love: And unless anything has changed typically the runners are first to get off board ship and we just walk over and then its race time. I don't know about the whole 'don't bring your medals' things. Maybe they don't want them to get stolen? Because they have a bin to place your bags over by cast members, but it isn't For Knox. Just a bin with everyone stuff piled together. Anyway, the 5k is fun! But unless its snazzed up as a post race event weekend, its just a quick 5k run on the same track that the busses run and you just finish and a cast member hands you a medal and your good to go. But happy cruising! :yay:
 


Thanks for the reply, Patsydust. That is what I was questioning, the actual Castaway Challenge in conjunction with running the marathon. I have done the regular 5k twice, once with the generic "winner" Mickey head medals and then once with the rubber 2015 CC 5K medals. Now I'm going for the real gold medal. ;) I figure after sucking all that money out us, it would be nice if Run Disney did something special for the runners on board.
 
Oh ok so it's basically they don't want you running with your previous medals. That makes perfect sense. I certainly wouldn't want to do that. I'm planning on taking it with me after I go back and clean up and then get off the ship again.
Thats probably what I saw then, alexce. Thanks for the info! Do you happen to know what time of day it was held?

The reception was something like 3 or 4pm the following day.
 
Well I hope they do do something extra special! You'll have to keep me posted! I know there are probably a lot more Cast Away 5ks then I realize. Probably at least 3 a week? But I wished they would snazz them up a bit. I'd even be willing to pay if they made it more like a standard 5k at least. Not to come off sounding too high maintenance. Ha ha ha. But not only is it typically a very hot 5k (extra runner points) but I just signed up for the Star Wars Half and convinced my mom to do the 5k that weekend and to help prep her she is going to do the 5k on CC. Since it will be her first 5k, I just wish there was a little bit more Pixie Dust for her. But I'll cross my fingers for your race! Good luck all around! :D
 
Jeff Galloway was onboard and did some Q&A along with the runDisney people giving instructions. The day after the race, they hosted a cocktail reception in one of the bars (I forget the name, possibly Evolution).

Glad they learned in the month following the first one. Man was ours lackluster! And definitely NO Galloway.

And unless anything has changed typically the runners are first to get off board ship and we just walk over and then its race time. I don't know about the whole 'don't bring your medals' things. Maybe they don't want them to get stolen? Because they have a bin to place your bags over by cast members, but it isn't For Knox. Just a bin with everyone stuff piled together. Anyway, the 5k is fun! But unless its snazzed up as a post race event weekend, its just a quick 5k run on the same track that the busses run and you just finish and a cast member hands you a medal and your good to go.

Most of what you describe is just the normal 5K. which they also ran at the normal "island run" time on Challenge day. Some of the paid 5K runners were able to sign up for it, so they did the two back to back. And on that day, the island run" was an actual 5K, because they ran the same course as the paid 5K. Just a few hours later.

I know there are probably a lot more Cast Away 5ks then I realize.

Every time a ship docks there they will almost crtainly hold the "island run" (not quite) 5K. Since all the ships got stocked with new medals following the January marathon weekend Castaway Challenge, the "island run" medal has been the nice rubber 5K medal, not the old Mickey ear one.
 
The reception was something like 3 or 4pm the following day.

Thank so much! We have Palo brunch the next morning so I hoping if they do it, that wouldn't interfere. Lets hope they keep it at the same time. ;)
 

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