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 August 31, 2008 |
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Sunday August 31, 2008 |
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John Lucas Wins Third Annual Disneyland Half Marathon Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square bridge reopens Ex-Surgeon General calls Disney kids' hospital home Review: 'Disney Lost and Found: Exploring the Hidden Artwork From Never-Produced Animation' |
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John Lucas Wins Third Annual Disneyland Half Marathon MarketWatch - Course records were broken in Men's, Women's and Master's divisions in the third annual Disneyland Half Marathon, Sunday at Disneyland Resort.
John Lucas, a marketing
specialist for a sports apparel company in Eugene, Oregon,
crossed the finish line first with a Disneyland Half
Marathon record time of 1:08:05 (exactly two minutes faster
than the 2007 winning time), leading the field of an
estimated 13,500 participants.
"It's a very meaningful place
for me," Lucas said of Disneyland. After qualifying for the
Olympic trials in the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon, Lucas took
his girlfriend Molly to Disneyland and proposed to her in
front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. The couple also honeymooned
at the Resort after their wedding in 2007.
"My favorite moment (in today's
race) was coming back through Disney's California Adventure
and seeing Mrs. Incredible and Sully cheering us on," Lucas
said, referring to Disney-Pixar characters who lined the
course.
Lucas said he liked the
competitive field and "the flat course really helped me keep
a rhythm."
Placing second overall was Mark
Batres, 23, of Rowland Heights, Calif., with a time of
1:09:55. Chokri Dhaouadi, 36, a Tunisian runner who trains
in Las Cruces, New Mexico, finished third with a time of
1:12:14.
Mary Akor, 31, of Gardena,
Calif., was the women's half marathon champion. Akor
finished with a Disneyland Half Marathon women's record time
of 1:19:24, despite losing her race chip and having to start
from the back of the pack. She caught up with the women's
leader at approximately the five mile mark, in the 13.1-mile
event.
"I had to make my way through
all the other runners," she said. "But it was a great race
with so many people out there cheering us on. That really
made it special."
The women's second place
finisher was Mary Kate Bailey, 33, of San Diego, Calif.,
with a time of 1:19.33. Suzy Schumacher, 39, of Phoenix,
Ariz. - last year's winner of the women's Disneyland Half
Marathon - took third place with a time of 1:25:12.
Kevin Broady, 45, of Brea, Calif., who finished first overall in the 2007 Disneyland Half Marathon, earned a notable Master's Division (age 40+) victory this year with a division record time of 1:13.26 and a fourth place overall ranking.
Edith Martinez, 40, of Brea,
Calif., was the top women's Master's finisher with a
division record time of 1:28:29.
In the men's Half Marathon
wheelchair division, Ralph Pieplenbos, 55, of Monrovia,
Calif., crossed the finish line with a time of 1:19:27
Last year's winner of the
women's half marathon wheelchair division, Kristen Messer,
21, of Austin, Texas, repeated this year with a winning time
of 1:37:42.
Approximately 13,500 runners
from 50 states and 16 countries registered for the magical
13.1 mile Disneyland Half Marathon this year. The field
included first-time half marathoners as well as veteran
runners. The course traveled through two Disneyland Resort
theme parks and along Anaheim streets with landmarks such as
Angels Stadium and Honda Center, while colorful Disney
characters and festive music inspired them along the way.
Runners who completed the half
marathon received a commemorative Sleeping Beauty Castle
medal, the signature medal of the Disneyland Half Marathon
and one in the Disney endurance series collection.
The Coast-to-Coast medal, a new
award, was presented to nearly 1,000 runners who completed
either the Walt Disney World Marathon or Walt Disney World
Half Marathon in January and then completed Sunday's
Disneyland Half Marathon. The Coast-to-Coast medal showcases
the iconic "Partners Statue," of Walt Disney and Mickey
Mouse.
The 2009 Disneyland Half
Marathon Weekend will be held Sept. 4-6, with the Half
Marathon being held on Sunday, Sept. 6. Registration for the
2009 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend opens on Monday,
September 1, 2008.
For more information and to
view complete searchable race results visit
www.disneylandhalfmarathon.com.
For new media information, visit
www.disneylandnews.com
Disneyland Resort features two
spectacular theme parks - Disneyland (the original Disney
theme park) and Disney's California Adventure - plus the
Downtown Disney district comprised of unique dining,
entertainment and shopping experiences. Resort hotels
include the luxurious 745-room Disney's Grand Californian
Hotel and Spa, the magical 990-room Disneyland Hotel and the
beach-themed fun of the 502-room Disney's Paradise Pier
Hotel. For information on attractions and vacations at
Disneyland Resort visit
www.disneyland.com, call
(866) 60-DISNEY or visit local travel agents.
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Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square bridge reopens
Disney News - The rebuilt Liberty Square bridge is now open to all traffic. The Bridge still needs minor work, but is complete enough to allow guests and the SpectroMagic Parade to begin it's use today. |
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Ex-Surgeon General calls Disney kids' hospital home
Orlando Sentinel - As a newly minted vice president of Disney's Children's Hospital at Florida Hospital, Dr. Antonia Coello Novello has an ambitious agenda. She wants to create a pain center that combines conventional and alternative medicine, fund a program that would send doctors to local schools and open an umbilical-cord blood bank. Novello knows she's set the bar high, but achieving is almost second nature to her. It was Novello, the daughter of a rural schoolteacher in Puerto Rico, who in 1990 shattered the proverbial glass ceiling to become the nation's first Hispanic and first female U.S. Surgeon General. After a successful career that has taken her around the world, Novello says she's ecstatic to call Orlando home. "This is the place to be," Novello said. "With a med school on the way, the Burnham Institute, new hospitals in the making and the Lake Nona research complex, Orlando won't be the same 10 years from now. It's best to join places when they are on their way and participate in that process, than to arrive when everything is done." County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez, a friend of Novello's, readily admits she aggressively pursued her and persuaded Novello to come here. "This woman brings a wealth of knowledge and experience not just to Central Florida but to the entire state," Fernandez said. "She's an expert in children's obesity and diabetes, has a solid public-service track record and is afraid of nothing. As a fellow Puerto Rican, I am so proud of her." Those who know Novello describe her as a straight-shooter who takes a no-nonsense approach to life. She has strong opinions, particularly about children's and women's issues and the empowerment of Hispanics. "I don't think they [Florida Hospital's executives] know what they've gotten themselves into," she quipped. |
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Review: 'Disney Lost and Found: Exploring the Hidden Artwork
From Never-Produced Animation'
Los Angeles Times - There's animation as cartoon, and there's animation as art. Classic Disney films such as "Snow White," painstakingly created in a pre-CGI era, fall into the latter category. In the gorgeous illustrated "Disney Lost and Found: Exploring the Hidden Artwork From Never-Produced Animation" (Disney Editions: 128 pp., $30), renowned historian and critic (and Times contributor) Charles Solomon honors the studio's unique, labor-intensive devotion to both storytelling and visual concepts. (As Warner Bros. animator and director Friz Freleng notes, Walt Disney "spent more on storyboards than we did on films.") Disney employed renowned painters and book illustrators of the era in his art department, and the author describes the intricate process of depicting subtleties in tone, color and character gestures in each film. Countless stills never made it on screen, and Solomon reprints many of those marvelous drawings and sketches: red pencil drafts of Dopey and Sneezy; discarded pastel sequences from "Sleeping Beauty"; an early rendering of Timothy the mouse with his ear pressed against Dumbo's trunk (before the artists decided that the title character wouldn't speak). Some stories were developed but seemed too weak or lacked mainstream appeal, and were subsequently abandoned. (Four teams tried to adapt "Don Quixote" to animation.) There's plenty of interesting trivia included: Disney scrapped the first few months of work on "Pinocchio" after deciding the puppet was too much of a "sarcastic wise guy"; a team of artists spent nine years perfecting "The Rescuers." Somewhat less compelling is the inclusion of material from two more recent full-length features ("Wild Life" and "My Peoples") that were never produced. Both incorporated digital art, and those pictures are noticeably flatter on the page. But this is a treasure for its beautiful "lost and found" images (works of art in their own right) from beloved films and for the author's historical insights. |
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