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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Jan. 13, 2008) – The winner's circle was crowded with familiar faces at the 15th annual Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend as Brazilian Adriano Bastos claimed his fifth Disney trophy Sunday, climaxing two days of events during which two other former champions also added another Disney title to their resumes. They were joined by Disney newcomer Melanie Peters of St. Petersburg who claimed the women's title in just her second marathon ever.
More than 40,000 runners were entered in a variety of Disney Marathon Weekend events, including 18,000 in the marathon and 16,500 in the half marathon.
The 29-year-old Bastos, from Sao Paulo, broke the tape in 2:20:58, more than 14 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor, John Garton of Voorhees, N.J. The victory, Bastos' fourth straight at Walt Disney World Resort, allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. "Every year I win, it builds the pressure to come back and win the following year," he said.
And Bastos admitted he is already thinking about "next year" and a goal not just to win but to improve on his best-ever Disney time – a 2:18:33 he posted in 2003. He attributed Sunday's performance – the 26th-best ever in the Disney Marathon but Bastos' slowest ever at Disney – to the fact that he was not fully recovered from a late-fall marathon in Brazil.
Other "familiar faces" in the Disney winner's circle were elite wheelchair racer Saul Mendoza of Wimberley, Texas, and half-marathoner Kim Pawelek of Jacksonville, Fla.
Mendoza returned to the Disney Marathon for the first time in four years and picked up right where he left off in 2004 – cruising into the winner's circle. For Mendoza, a native of Mexico who was honored as his country's Athlete of the Century for the 20th century, Sunday's win was his eighth at Walt Disney World Resort.
In the half marathon on Saturday, Pawelek raced to her fourth Disney women's title. Her 1:18:07 earned the 33-year-old runner a 42-second victory over Yolanda Flamino of Rochester, Mich. (1:18:49). Pawelek's time was the ninth best in event's history. She also owns the second, fourth and 10th-best times.
Peters, a 24-year-old Michigan native who migrated to Florida as a student at the University of Miami, won the women's marathon crown with a time of 2:47:32. That put her nearly two minutes ahead of runner-up Sonja Friend-Uhl of West Palm Beach (2:49:27). Christa Benton of St. Petersburg finished third to complete a Florida sweep.
Three members of the "Hansons-Brooks" distance running team from Rochester, Mich., took the first three spots in the half marathon men's division. Chad Johnson (1:06:53), C. Fred Joslyn (1:06:54) and Patrick Rizzo (1:07:05) posted the fourth-through-sixth-fastest times ever at Disney.
Registration for the 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend opens Jan. 14, 2008, at 12 p.m. ET at www.disneyworldmarathon.com.
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