Former Fountain Valley resident Nick Arciniaga won the Super Heroes Half Marathon through the Disneyland Resort and streets of Anaheim Sunday for his fourth runDisney half-marathon victory.
Arciniaga ran in a full-length Spider-Man costume and completed the 13.1- mile course in one hour, nine minutes, 28 seconds, more than five minutes ahead of the second-place finisher, Robert Coslick of Phoenix, who was timed in 1:14.40.
Adam Henry of Santa Monica was third in 1:17:07.
Lindsey Carter of Huntington Beach was the women’s winner in 1:25:01. Beth Woodward of Orrville, Ohio was second among women in 1:27.46 and Jennifer Lucas of Brigantine, New Jersey third in 1:29:53.
The 33-year-old Arciniaga broke from the pack of nearly 10,000 runners from the start and ran alone for much of the race.
“I like to run these races by myself,” said Arciniaga, an alumnus of Fountain Valley High School and Cal State Fullerton who now lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
“I’m not really interested in making them close at all. I just want to run away from the start. I feel that’s kind of my best strategy.”
Arciniaga also won the 2014 Disneyland Half Marathon and the 2015 and 2016 Star Wars Half Marathon — The Light Side races, all at the Disneyland Resort.
“I always used to come to Disneyland as a kid and I just love the area,” Arciniaga said.
“This is an exciting course. There are people all over the streets — you have cheerleaders, you have people inside the parks, everybody is dressed up and there’s a lot of enthusiasm. It helps me pick up the pace and motivates me to run faster.”
The course, billed by organizers as “the most extraordinary course on Earth,” was changed from last year to include more miles in the Disneyland Resort.
Runners ran through Cars Land and completed a loop around Paradise Bay with the “World of Color” fountains dancing in the background. The portion of the course in Disney California Adventure also went through Grizzly Peak and on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Land.
In Disneyland, the course went through Sleeping Beauty Castle for the first time. It then went through Mondayland, passed “it’s a small world” and went through Mickey’s Toontown.
The course also went through Disneyland’s backstage area before entering the streets of Anaheim, passing the Anaheim Convention Center. Runners also went through Angel Stadium and concluded the race near the Disneyland Hotel.
The half-marathon concluded a series of weekend events that also included the Doctor Strange 10K, Captain America 5K, runDisney kids races and a health and fitness expo.
—City News Service