80-year-old New Orleans area runner has run all 30 Disney World marathons

In 1994, at the tender age of 50, Rudy Smith from Gretna, Louisianna, just across the river from New Orleans, decided to come to Orlando to run in the first Walt Disney World Marathon.

Now, 30 years later, at the age of 80, he became one of just 59 people who have competed in all of the marathons, and is the octogenerian among the group.

“Always got to focus on the finish,” he said. “So you take each mile as it comes and whittle it down until you get to the finish.”

He finished the 26.2-mile race on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, which took runners though all four Disney theme parks, in a little over seven hours.

To celebrate the achievement, Disney gifted Smith and all the “perfect’’ runners with a commemorative pennant that was on display on the course.

This is a miletstone. “It’s one of the things that I would have never imagined when I started out in 94, that I would be here 30 years later doing this. But, you know, it’s it’s a tradition with me. Every year in January, I’m here at Disney World,” he said.

This was something he would just do. He started out coming to Disney World with 5 years, then 10 years and then 15 years. “And then we got to 25 and then said ”Well, we might as well go another five years, go to 30,'” he said.

“So right now, just once I get through this, I’ll sit back and enjoy it and then I’ll be looking forward to maybe 31,” he said with a smile.

This is just the latest achievement for Smith, who didn’t take up distance running until his 40s. He has run a marathon on every continent, run one on the Great Wall of China and has even run races twice up the Empire State Building plus one in Antarctica. He also completed all six major world marathons after finishing the Berlin Marathon this past September.