FIRST FEMALE OVERALL WINNER

WALT DISNEY WORLD topiary design. Taken by PKSenagore April 2017.. All rights reserved.

 HISTORIC HALF MARATHON VICTORY AT DISNEY!
The item “Female Runner Records Historic Victory at Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon,” highlighted on the RunningUSA.org email newsletter answered a question I had recently been asked.  Has a woman been the overall winner in a major race? 
 
I didn’t know on the weekend of the NYC marathon last weekend, and wanted to find out. It was difficult to frame the query in an online search. The results identified women who won a variety of competitions, but not specifically whether a woman had placed #1 in an important race that included both genders.
 
Happily, the answer, as of November 5,2017, is “YES!” According to the post, runDisney says a 34-year old Brazilian now holds the honor. Giovanna Martins crossed the finish line of the Wine and Dine 13.1 mile competition with a time of 1:19:16, six seconds before a male runner from the UK. There were more than 10,000 men and women racing the event.
 
The news piece says Martins previously won the women’s division of this race in 2016, and the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2015 and 2017. With this win she is the “only female runner to win four runDisney races at Walt Disney World Resort.”
 
Possibly there is more work to be done by officials to verify Martins’s accomplishment. Hopefully it will stand.  What does this mean?  There will be many opinions, some pushing a particular perspective or agenda.
 
For all runners, walkers, and competitors in other sports it can mean that just showing up is the first step that needs to be taken if a ‘historic’ victory is to be won.    Whether personal or public, the attempt must be made. Regardless of who else shows or does not show.
 
Congratulation to Giovanna Martins for showing up and doing it! How exciting for those present to have witnessed this feat. 
 
RUN HAPPY!
 
http://www.runningusa.org/disney-wineanddine-female-winner
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