Tampa Runners Sweep Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Sunday
This weekend, Disney hosted the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World, which saw Tampa Bay runners, Tyler Wasieleski and Megan Curham win.
Wasieleski, who grew up in Tampa and now lives Union City, Calif., cruised to victory and nearly set a race record, finishing in 1:11:48, one second off the fastest time ever. In fact, he was so far ahead of the pack of more than 14,000 runners that he took it easy down the stretch and still finished nearly a minute ahead of second-place finisher Samuel Fazioli of Salem, N.H., (1:12:34) and more than seven minutes in front of Roger Hildago of Auburndale, Fla., who was third (1:19:00).
“I had about a 30-second gap (over Fazioli), so it was tough trying to keep my same pace,’’ Wasieleski said. “I think I slowed down a little bit (the last few miles).’’
Curham, who grew up in New Jersey but now lives in Tampa, was hoping to test her endurance ahead of the Dopey Challenge – running the 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon during the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January. Needless to say, she’s likely ready for it after winning the Wine & Dine 10K on Saturday before easily becoming the first female finisher across the finish line in Sunday’s race. She crossed the finish line in 1:19:59 – almost 10 minutes faster than Amanda Beal of Ellicott City, Md., who was second (1:29:09) and Valery Perry of Oviedo, Fla., who was third (1:29:26).
Following the race on Sunday, thousands of runners attended the Post-Race Party at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.
The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon capped an action-packed weekend of races that also included a 5K and Kids Races, plus a health and fitness expo. In all, nearly 35,000 runners participated in events during the weekend.
The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend is the first of four runDisney race weekends at Walt Disney World Resort during the 2018-2019 race season. Next up is the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna (Jan. 9-13, 2019) and registration is still available at www.rundisney.com.