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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-localcolly06jan06,0,5009586.story?coll=sfla-sports-headlines
Marathon shifts continents
Posted January 6 2005
Only at Walt Disney World could an established marathon with 24,000 runners divert its course from Asia to Africa.
Runners looking to tour Asia at Sunday's Walt Disney World Marathon in Lake Buena Vista will be in for a slight detour. The course will enter Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Africa for the first time and then moves on to Asia.
The new route adds only a few hundred feet to the course through Animal Kingdom and includes a new landmark, Expedition Everest, expected to be completed next year.
The latest change means that only 500 feet remain of a switchback on Victory Way near Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
Runners used to travel nearly a mile with participants coming in the opposite direction.
Other changes in Sunday's race:
A jog in the route through the Magic Kingdom parking lot at 8.5 miles that will allow more space for the finish of the half-marathon.
A new route around Crescent Lake just southwest of Epcot. Runners will go past the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Before, they ran along the boardwalk on the shore by Disney's Boardwalk Resort.
A food stop at Mile 9.1 -- the first time that a nourishment stop has been offered in the first half of the race. The plan is to offer Nestle Tollhouse cookies, PowerGel and bananas.
Because of the record turnout, making it one of the nation's top 10 marathons, more than 200 buses and monorails will be used to transport runners to the start beginning at 3 a.m.
Spectators are advised to be at the park by 4:30 to see the 6 a.m. start.
Female runners outnumber men by about 4,000. There are 14,000 women registered, including 8,000 in the half-marathon.
Surf the Web
If you want to keep track of a runner in the marathon or half-marathon, log onto the Internet at www.Disneyworld-marathon.com for real-time information.
Real-time tracking of splits at designated points has been added. The ChampionChip, which records official and net times, will send live splits from the 10-mile, half marathon, and 20-mile split marks as well as both finish lines.
Hey, Isn't that??
First names will be included on runners' bibs for the first time.
Race director Jon Hughes, a longtime leader in the running community, said he has noticed the larger events are doing that.
Locals could dominate
Kevin Beck of Plantation and Davie-based Runner's Depot Racing Team is among six first-time Florida's Finest and could finish among the top five. He moved to South Florida last August 2004 and has some impressive credentials. Beck, a New Englander, has a marathon best of 2:24:25, which he ran at the 2001 Boston and finished 29th. His half-marathon time of 1:08:22 would have broken the tape at five of the seven previous Disney Half Marathons. His marathon personal record has topped the winning times of five Disney winners. He is coached by Olympian Pete Pfitzinger. ...
Andrew Greenidge of Coconut Creek and Aldo Virano of North Miami have combined for nine top-10 finishes since 1998 in the marathon. Greenidge, coming off the Barbados Marathon in December, registered six straight top 10s since 1998, topped by a second place in 2002 when he was leading most of the way. Virano, the elite-athletes coordinator for the Miami Tropical Marathon, has three Disney top 10s, beginning with a third place in 2000. ...
Paul Marmaro, 40, of Delray Beach has been running the marathon so long he has turned into a master. Since 1994, the elite runner has competed every year, including one in which he broke his jaw while in-line skating. This is his debut as a masters runner. He has finished in the top 10 six times. His best was a second place in 1997. ...
Dave McGillivray, 50, race director of the Boston Marathon and Marathon of the Palm Beaches and several other events, will run the marathon but refused to predict a time.
From: sun-sentinel
Marathon shifts continents
Posted January 6 2005
Only at Walt Disney World could an established marathon with 24,000 runners divert its course from Asia to Africa.
Runners looking to tour Asia at Sunday's Walt Disney World Marathon in Lake Buena Vista will be in for a slight detour. The course will enter Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Africa for the first time and then moves on to Asia.
The new route adds only a few hundred feet to the course through Animal Kingdom and includes a new landmark, Expedition Everest, expected to be completed next year.
The latest change means that only 500 feet remain of a switchback on Victory Way near Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
Runners used to travel nearly a mile with participants coming in the opposite direction.
Other changes in Sunday's race:
A jog in the route through the Magic Kingdom parking lot at 8.5 miles that will allow more space for the finish of the half-marathon.
A new route around Crescent Lake just southwest of Epcot. Runners will go past the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Before, they ran along the boardwalk on the shore by Disney's Boardwalk Resort.
A food stop at Mile 9.1 -- the first time that a nourishment stop has been offered in the first half of the race. The plan is to offer Nestle Tollhouse cookies, PowerGel and bananas.
Because of the record turnout, making it one of the nation's top 10 marathons, more than 200 buses and monorails will be used to transport runners to the start beginning at 3 a.m.
Spectators are advised to be at the park by 4:30 to see the 6 a.m. start.
Female runners outnumber men by about 4,000. There are 14,000 women registered, including 8,000 in the half-marathon.
Surf the Web
If you want to keep track of a runner in the marathon or half-marathon, log onto the Internet at www.Disneyworld-marathon.com for real-time information.
Real-time tracking of splits at designated points has been added. The ChampionChip, which records official and net times, will send live splits from the 10-mile, half marathon, and 20-mile split marks as well as both finish lines.
Hey, Isn't that??
First names will be included on runners' bibs for the first time.
Race director Jon Hughes, a longtime leader in the running community, said he has noticed the larger events are doing that.
Locals could dominate
Kevin Beck of Plantation and Davie-based Runner's Depot Racing Team is among six first-time Florida's Finest and could finish among the top five. He moved to South Florida last August 2004 and has some impressive credentials. Beck, a New Englander, has a marathon best of 2:24:25, which he ran at the 2001 Boston and finished 29th. His half-marathon time of 1:08:22 would have broken the tape at five of the seven previous Disney Half Marathons. His marathon personal record has topped the winning times of five Disney winners. He is coached by Olympian Pete Pfitzinger. ...
Andrew Greenidge of Coconut Creek and Aldo Virano of North Miami have combined for nine top-10 finishes since 1998 in the marathon. Greenidge, coming off the Barbados Marathon in December, registered six straight top 10s since 1998, topped by a second place in 2002 when he was leading most of the way. Virano, the elite-athletes coordinator for the Miami Tropical Marathon, has three Disney top 10s, beginning with a third place in 2000. ...
Paul Marmaro, 40, of Delray Beach has been running the marathon so long he has turned into a master. Since 1994, the elite runner has competed every year, including one in which he broke his jaw while in-line skating. This is his debut as a masters runner. He has finished in the top 10 six times. His best was a second place in 1997. ...
Dave McGillivray, 50, race director of the Boston Marathon and Marathon of the Palm Beaches and several other events, will run the marathon but refused to predict a time.
From: sun-sentinel
