To say that Nick Arciniaga feels at home at runDisney races at Disneyland Resort is an understatement.
Arciniaga, who grew up in nearby Fountain Valley, Calif. but now lives in Arizona, came home again this weekend and won the Super Heroes Half Marathon on Sunday for his fourth runDisney half marathon victory at Disneyland Resort.
Wearing a full-length Spiderman costume as he ran, Arciniaga summoned his super hero strength to give the home crowd plenty to cheer about, blasting through the 13.1- mile course in record time. His winning time of 1:09:28 was nearly two minutes quicker than the race record (1:11:09) and was more than five minutes faster than second-place finisher Robert Coslick of Phoenix, AZ (1:14:40).
“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.’’
Arciniaga, 33, broke from the pack of nearly 10,000 runners from the start and ran alone for much of the race that went through Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure as well as the streets of Anaheim.
“I like to run these races by myself. I’m not really interested in making them close at all,’’ he said. “I just want to run away from the start. I feel that’s kind of my best strategy.’’
The Super Heroes Half Marathon win adds to Arciniaga’s wins at the 2014 Disneyland Half Marathon and the last two Star Wars Half Marathon – The Light Side races. The only runDisney race at Disneyland Resort that he hasn’t attempted to win is the women-focused Tinker Bell Half Marathon presented by PANDORA Jewelry held each May.
“I might have to run that one now,’’ he said with a chuckle. “I might have to find myself a nice little skirt to run it in, but yeah I probably will.’’
Lindsey Carter of Huntington Beach, Calif., was the first female finisher, crossing the line in 1:25:01. Brian Siemann of Savoy, Ill, took home top honors in the wheelchair division. Siemann, who competed in the Paralympics in Rio this summer, won with a time of 59:10 after also winning the Doctor Strange 10K wheelchair division the day before.
In addition to the half marathon and the 10K, the race weekend included a Captain America 5K, runDisney Kids Races and a Health and Fitness Expo. In all, more than 25,000 runners participated, including more than 13,000 from California.
