2015 Wine and Dine Half(ish) Weather Delay & Fallout
If you ran the Wine and Dine Half Marathon last year, you know that this race was a nightmare in 2014.
Friends lovingly call it the Splash and Dash.
Heavy rains and cold weather created a mess of a race for the runDisney participants last year.
This year? Things weren’t much better.
Lightning forced a race delay and runners evacuated to the Wide World of Sports buildings.
Pictures from friends at the scene:
Even the Balloon Ladies were stuck inside!
Hang in there, ladies.
After some time and some social media reports from those on the scene, the official word was sent out by runDisney.
Okay- so they delayed due to weather. Runners can appreciate the concern for safety. Absolutely.
But they also shortened the course due to the delay.
Errrr…
This is NOT making some runners happy.
I’ve seen athletes share their frustrations that they did not pay $200 for a 10K. If it’s safe enough for a 10K, it should be safe enough to plan for the half logically.
Some are expressing the concern that they planned on using the half distance as a proof of time race.
And the coast to coast runners are still eligible- even though they are not finishing a half or longer race.
Just a lot of frustration over the situation.
ETA 11.8.15: There are a lot of thoughts on what went down. The prevailing sentiment is that the roads had to be opened within a particular time per contracts that Disney was bound to uphold. This meant the race officials had to run a short course or do hard sweeps under the 16-minute pace. The other point to consider was the Animal Kingdom Park. It saw a severe storm roll through, leaving the already slippery pathways slick with rain and debris. Volunteers stationed in the park stated they were slipping just walking around. Imagine 13,000 runners heading through there? Might have been in the best interest of safety for everyone to cancel that part of the race.
ETA 11.16.15:
This email was sent to the runDisney participants.
Dear?____,
Thank you for participating in the 2015 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. We heard that some of our runners had questions about the race, which was delayed and shortened because of inclement weather and lightning in the area. As a race team, we had been monitoring weather conditions continuously on Saturday and due to conditions in the area we modified the course for the safety of our runners and spectators.
We appreciate the effort you put into preparing for the 2015 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. While we are equally disappointed in not being able to provide a complete half marathon experience, we are thankful our runners were able to complete the modified course safely.
All Coast to Coast Challenge participants are eligible to receive their medals, and all runners’ proof of time will count toward a 10K distance option for other runDisney events.
Our runDisney team has a passion for putting on magical running events where participants can make their dreams come true and achieve their personal best. While weather is out of our control, we take necessary precautions to keep our runners and Guests safe. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you and hope you will consider running with us again.
Sincerely,
Maribeth Bisienere
SVP, ESPN Wide World of Sports and Disney Springs
Jon Hughes
runDisney Race Director, East Coast
I’m curious how you feel about the issue. Is there a perfect solution when the weather goes bad that you’d like to see? Do you think runDisney handled this in the best way possible?
Patty Holliday is the owner and creator of all things No-Guilt Universe. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.
I was very upset that I didn’t get to do a full half. I have never run a half before and this was my first. I really struggled with my training and had multiple meltdowns while training! I am a mehhh runner and I worked so hard to be able to run most of this, with the backup that its a Disney run so I wouldn’t feel horrible walking parts. While I ended up running most of it (only time I stopped is when I couldn’t get around people), I felt leaving horrible disappointed. I was that girl that cried on the 4:30am bus ride home. While we can’t control the weather, it sucked I planned a vacation around running less miles than I had at home. I am so torn bc I get it, weather can be dangerous. At the same time I didn’t do anything Saturday to rest up and now its 5:15am on Sunday, which will also be a wash bc I probably won’t be waking up til 2pm once I get to bed.
I’m sorry the night didn’t go as planned. This is disappointing.
It’s a tough situation to know what and how to feel. I’m not sure how I would react. Mother Nature is uncontrollable and out of anyone’s hands. It could happen anywhere and at any race. I love that the race staff promptly figured out a way to evacuate and then still make it happen, and I think maybe some kind of explanation as to why the course was cut would be appropriate. I feel for those people who were trying to get a proof time, or even more so, their first ever 1/2. But at the same time the safety comes first. I think they were lucky to be at WWOS, b/c if you think about it, had it been Princess or WDW weekend, where would they evacuate to? There are no buildings around that corral area to go and wait inside. I was there at Wine and Dine/Splash and Dash last year, and that was the worst physical experience and hardest thing I ever did! I totally understand people’s disappointment. I feel it too, but in the long run, at least it wasn’t cancelled and the after party was a go. Last year we did not even stay for the party due to the drenching rains and how awful we felt, and we had 3 in our group who were spectators and spend 100.00 on a party ticket that didn’t get used. So it’s a tough situation. I am so glad though, that no one seemed to get hurt. Mother Nature is a beast! I think an explanation maybe of why the course was shortened may (or may not) help. Was it due to damage, road closure/open issues? Lots of unanswered questions. I hope next year is flawless!
From what I read, Animal Kingdom got hit hard from the storm. There were lots of downed trees limbs and stuff that they just couldn’t clear in time to make it safe for runners to run through that area…. Hence the shortened course
I heard this too. I’m of the camp that some miles are better than a cancellation, so I while I understand the frustration, I’d ultimately be ok with the decision to shorten the course.
I agree! Better some than none. I heard they closed b/c of damage but I also heard b/c of roads needing to be open by a certain time. So that’s what I meant by an explanation.
I do appreciate the communication to evacuate the field for our safety and understand the course needed to be changed for our safety . However I trained for 13.1 and received slightly over a 10k. In my mind I would have appreciated a 10 mile course with a turn around in Animal Kingdom parking lot.
I was there and was ok with the final decision. I wish they did a better job of communicating what was going on, but there’s only so much you can do when sever weather was involved. It could have been much worse. The race could have been cancelled or we could have been stranded out on Osceola Parkway in a severe storm.
That said, I completely understand why many would be upset or disappointed, especially for those who this was their first half or this race was being used for future qualifying times, or for qualifying for Half Fanatics
I think alot of factors played into the decision people don’t know about. runDisney made the absolute right decision and the run, like anything else, was what you could make of it. We had a blast laughing, singing, dancing, and causing shenanigans along the way. With an injured runner in our group, it took the pressure off and allowed us to have an even better time. Just like with last year’s broken medal mess, you just had to have a good attitude and make lemonade outta…!
I think the right decision was probably made. I doubt Disney would have made the decision if it wasn’t absolutely necessary since I’m sure they had to deal with a lot of complaints.
I was definitely bummed, although with the heat and humidity that night, I was pretty done by the time we finished.
That said, I do think an email the following day explaining what went into the decision would have been nice. I understand it isn’t realistic to give everyone a discount or even partial refund, but Disney’s customer service has always been top notch, so I was a little surprised to receive nothing from them.
I can’t say my opinion matters on this. I signed up for 2014, but flights were ridiculous, so I deferred to 2015 and flights were still ridiculous, so I never put in my time in before the August deadline. I wasn’t going to pay to defer again, so I figured it was money out the window. Oh, well. No Disney races for me. Lesson learned.
Then in the last few weeks we saw flights get sensible, and booked three days to wander the parks and then race. I was in corral “K”, so any hope of running a decent time was out the window anyway. There’s no shortage of races near me and I’ve done plenty of them. There’s a half marathon two towns away as I write this. So I really didn’t care.
When they herded everyone into the stadiums to get out of the weather, I stayed behind the crowd. I was planning to ‘escape’ and run back to Epcot myself (4 or so miles) if they scratched. I was more interested in meeting my wife back at Epcot before 4AM, and if they had to get everyone back on buses, that didn’t seem likely. I know Disney. These people redefine “By The Book”. If that happened, everyone would be basically a hostage. Screwed.
So shortening the distance made sense to me. I ran it, but only because it still let me meet my wife before 1AM, even in “K”. I normally race pretty seriously, so it was nice to jog and bounce around without a care.
For people who don’t race a lot, or love Disney, and wanted to live this experience to the fullest, I can understand the frustration. I didn’t need it, will never do it again, and probably found it even more fun because of the altered plan.