2026 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend

[_shiny_side_up_]

Good catch! They did this for Disneyland this past weekend and it caused a lot of consternation at the expo. A ton of people got in line to ask for their 10K bibs to be changed, and most were told "sorry" and referred to this policy. I guess they are trying to make it more obvious.

That's not at all what they told me. I was in corral A for the half and corral D for the 10k. They said they weren't using POT for the 10k - and from what I saw that's what happened. People in corral A for the half all had random 10k corrals (A, B, C and D).

 

[Novatrix]

That's not at all what they told me. I was in corral A for the half and corral D for the 10k. They said they weren't using POT for the 10k - and from what I saw that's what happened. People in corral A for the half all had random 10k corrals (A, B, C and D).

Uhhh. Disneyland Paris' races were a mess due to similar policy.

I get rundisney's logic might be people are lying about times anyway, so what does it matter if we randomize it, but the truly optimal solution for runner experience would be to just require POT for all but the last corral. I do know though, that their priority is making money, so they might not want to risk alienating people based requiring POT.

 

[Rarity]

That's not at all what they told me. I was in corral A for the half and corral D for the 10k. They said they weren't using POT for the 10k - and from what I saw that's what happened. People in corral A for the half all had random 10k corrals (A, B, C and D).

This was also my experience at Disneyland last weekend. I submitted POT and was B for the half, but D for the 10k.

 

[KCO5988]

I wonder if this is just because so many people put the 8-10min pace that it fills all 4 corrals and they randomly assign from that bunch? Isn't corral A anything under like an 8:45 min pace for the half? So that would translate to around an 8:15/8:20 10k putting people with an A POT right in the middle of the most common response for time estimate.

 

[nancipants]

I wonder if this is just because so many people put the 8-10min pace that it fills all 4 corrals and they randomly assign from that bunch? Isn't corral A anything under like an 8:45 min pace for the half? So that would translate to around an 8:15/8:20 10k putting people with an A POT right in the middle of the most common response for time estimate.

Yes. People select the first time for many reasons - that's their actual pace, they want more time on the course, they're worried about being swept, they want to run with friends, or it's the easiest to pick during registration and then they forget to change it. The only way to fix the issue is to expand POT to all but the last corral and use POT for the 10k as well.

 

[fatmanatee]

I wonder if this is just because so many people put the 8-10min pace that it fills all 4 corrals and they randomly assign from that bunch? Isn't corral A anything under like an 8:45 min pace for the half? So that would translate to around an 8:15/8:20 10k putting people with an A POT right in the middle of the most common response for time estimate.

Corral A should be meant for people with <7 min, basically just elites but it was VERY full for the 10k. I’m still not sure why they added that pace estimate because it feels like they ended up not doing anything useful with it. Heard that an elite in the half ended up getting put in B for the 10k and he was a bit baffled by it, and if he put <7 min there's a possibility that there were so many people listing that estimate that it overflowed into corral B.

Basically what we’re seeing is more people getting clued in to the corral placement and as a result they have to split the paces further, entirely possible that someone with a 10-12 min estimate (which can get a POT for C in the half) might end up in corral F or maybe even G for the 10k. Every RD forum has this discussion about paces and corrals, panic about the balloon ladies, etc. It's not really an open secret anymore. Not a surprise that RD made this change for challenge POTs/paces.

 

[PrincessV]

File under The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same…

Back when I started doing rD races and they started adding challenges, there was no separate entry for expected 10K or 5K pace/finish time. Corral was based on expected half time (or marathon time for Goofy/Dopey) and that meant a higher than expected 5K/10K corral for many.

I fully expect that if I’m around long enough, they’ll go back separate entries for pace/finish time for the shorter races, and we’ll go through the same rounds of speculation and angst again, too.

This is the way.