New Jersey woman is repeat winner in Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon

A New Jersey woman set a new course record during the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, the first race weekend to return to Walt Disney World since the pandemic began.

Megan Curham not only beat all of the women in the field to the finish line Sunday at Walt Disney World Resort, but all of the men too, duplicating the same feat she accomplished at the last Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon in 2019.

After winning by 13 seconds in 2019, she left the field of 11,400 runners in her wake Sunday, crossing the finish line nearly two minutes ahead of everyone else, marking the third time a woman has been the overall winner at a runDisney half marathon (Brazil’s Giovanna Martins did it in 2017). It was also Curham’s third straight Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon win after finishing first among women in 2018 and overall in 2019.

“It was so amazing to be back here. It had been so long. I mean, 2019 feels like it was 10 years ago now,’’ Curham, who is from Warren, New Jersey, said, “So I was so excited because it had been a long time since I had been back to Disney in general. I’ve been coming here twice a year every year since I was probably born, so it was just amazing to be back here.’’

Her winning time of 1:15:33 set a new race record and led to her comfortable finish ahead of Nicholas Bowerman of Mount Dora, Florida (1:17:14) and Diana Bogantes Gonzalez (1:17:57) of Costa Rica.

“I usually go out hard in races, so I pretty much had a gap (between her and the rest of the field) and then it opened more as I went,’’ Curham said.

Curham attributed her performance to the unseasonably cool Florida weather, temperatures were in the low 50s at the start of the race, which is ideal for running

The race weekend involved more than 30,000 runners competing in the 5K, 10K and the Two Course Challenge (running the 10K and the half marathon).