Denver woman sets Dopey Challenge record at Disney Marathon

A Denver, Colorado woman sets a Dopey Challenge record at the Walt Disney World Marathon by becoming the first person in the 29-year history of the event to win all four races in the women’s division on Jan. 9, 2022.

Brittany Charboneau came in first in the 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon (48.6 miles total) on consecutive days.

“This is so special. I mean, it’s once in a lifetime. I won’t get this ever again,’’ Charboneau said in a statement released by Disney. “Honestly, I will treasure this forever. This is going to go down as one of the biggest highlights ever.’’

Charboneau finished well ahead of second-place runner Giovanna Martins of Salto, Brazil in the Walt Disney Worl Marathon despite having run 3.1 miles on Thursday, 6.2 miles on Friday and 13.1 miles on Saturday while most of her competitors just ran the marathon.

The 26.2-mile race took the runners through all four Disney theme parks – EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Charboneau ran just behind the leaders early in the race before picking up her pace and running away from the field down the stretch. Her time of 2:45:15 was far from her personal best time of 2:33.15, but it was more than three minutes faster than Martins (2:48.16) and nearly five minutes faster than Megan Curham of Warren, New Jersey (2:50:11).

Martins, who was ahead of Charboneau early in the race, had been the top woman finisher in five of the previous six Disney marathons. And Curham, who led the majority of the race, had just beaten everyone – every man and woman – in the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon two months ago.

“I kept hearing that I was in second place, but I didn’t even see the first place (runner),’’ Charboneau said. “It was a race that was hard. I don’t feel like I was able to let off the gas at any point. I mean, this was by far the hardest race of the weekend.’’

Charboneau dressed as a different Disney character for each of her four races. She plans to spend Monday experiencing Disney’s theme parks.

The overall winner of the marathon was Vanilson Neves of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Neves finished the race comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, winning in 2:30:37. David Gramlich of North Canton, Ohio was second (2:40:31) and Mathieu Frechette of Quebec, Canada was third (2:42:24).

The Disney Marathon Weekend was the second race weekend in the runDisney race season. Next up is the Princess Half Marathon Weekend (Feb. 24-27, 2022) followed by the Springtime Surprise Weekend (March 31-April 3).