Fredison Costa and Giovanna Martins, previous winners of the Walt Disney World Marathon, were the overall male and female champions of the 26th annual race on Sunday, January 13, 2019.

It was the seventh Disney World Marathon victory for Costa, a native of Brazil who now lives in Kissimmee.  Adrian Bastos, also of Brazil, holds the record with eight wins.  Costa’s time of 2:18:45 gave him a comfortable lead over second place finisher Nick Hilton (2:21:48) of Flagstaff, AZ, who won the race last year.  Jose Lima of Brazil was third with a time of 2:26:40.

Giovanna Martins of Salto, Brazil became the first woman to win four Disney Marathons – including the last three in a row.  Martins’ time of 2:45:24 was over two minutes faster than second place finisher Antonia Lins Da Silva of Fortaleza, Brazil at 2:47:36. American Nancy Jurgens of Apex, NC rounded out the top three female finishers with a time of 2:50:39.

The first Disney Marathon was held in 1994 with a single race and only 8,000 runners. The weekend has since expanded to include multiple events and additional race distances (5K, 10K, and half marathon) as well as running events for kids. More than 65,000 runners participated over the weekend, 15,000 in the marathon alone.  Of those, 6,300 attempted the Dopey Challenge, running the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon on four consecutive days, a total of 48.6 miles.  There were more than 70 runners who maintained their “perfect” status as finishers of all 26 Walt Disney World Marathons.

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