2004 Walt Disney World Marathon

[Stu]

Ten Sunshine State runners, including three first-time selections, comprise the Florida's Finest contingent for the 2004 Walt Disney World Marathon, Jan. 11 along the roadways and through the theme parks of the Vacation Kingdom.

The terrific 10 -- part of a registered field of more than 15,500 marathoners -- come from places as distant as the Florida panhandle and Southeast Florida . . . and from as nearby as Orange County in Central Florida. They are from tiny Jay (population 579) and metropolitan Miami and St. Petersburg. They range in age by generations -- as young as 27 and as old as 56.

What they have in common is a passion for road races. And the skill to do them well.

None has done Disney better than Andrew Greenidge of Coconut Creek. 2004 marks the 38-year-old runner's seventh consecutive selection to Florida's Finest. He has earned top-10 finishes at Disney the past six years, topped by a second place in 2002.

The youngest member of this year's Florida's Finest group is newcomer Mike Aldrink, 27, of Bradenton. As a teenager in 1994, he was the youngest American at the Boston Marathon -- an event in which he established his current PR of 2:45.

Joining Aldrink as first-time Florida's Finest team members are 31-year-old Heather Butcher of DeLand and 42-year-old Masters runner Kim Donaldson of St. Petersburg.

The oldest member of this year's select group of Florida runners is no stranger to the Florida's Finest team -- 56-year-old Raymond Bell of Hudson. Bell, selected to the elite group in 1996 and 1998, probably holds a distinction among the Florida's Finest: taking the longest time to complete a winning effort in a road race. His time was 486 hours, 41 minutes and eight seconds. The course was Los Angeles to New York City -- more than 2,900 miles -- in the 1993 Trans-America Race. Two years later, he improved his time by more than 42 hours ... but finished second in this most grueling of road races -- a 64-day "marathon" of 14-to-16-hour stages.

Lorraine Evans of Florida Running & Triathlon Magazine, who coordinates the Florida's Finest program, noted that "the number and quality of applicants continues to get better and better. We are limited to 10 athletes for the program -- and there were a few athletes that were not included only because of this restraint."

[Stu]

MAGICAL MARATHON -- Runners in the Walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., give energetic thumbs up to theme park guests as they pass Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom. The 26.2-mile course that runs through all four Walt Disney World theme parks, Disney's Wide World of Sports complex and several Disney resort hotel areas

[DIBBadmin]

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