Bastos, Mizutani win Disney Marathon crowns... again

Entering Sunday's Disney Marathon, 31-year-old Adriano Bastos of Brazil boasted an unprecedented winning streak and a goal to extend it several more years. But dealing with frigid temperatures much of the race and a fellow countryman pushing him the entire way, Bastos was worried.

"This is the first time that I felt that I had runners at the same level with me," Bastos said. "I was scared. I thought my streak might be broken."

It wasn't until the final three miles of the 26.2-mile journey through theme parks and along manicured roads that Bastos finally broke free of Fredison Costa, 32, to capture his sixth straight Disney crown and his seventh overall. This time, Bastos won in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 8 seconds. That was 33 seconds ahead of second-place Costa, representing Bastos' narrowest margin of victory at Disney.

Bastos' goal is to win 10 consecutive Disney marathons. Lisa Mizutani of Japan started her own Disney streak Sunday when the 24-year-old defended her women's title with a time of 2:51:20.

St. Petersburg music teacher Christa Benton, a three-time state cross country champion at Keswick Christian, former All-American at the University of South Florida and last year's winner of the Gasparilla Distance Classic, took second among the women in 2:56:43. Benton, 25, was first among local women.

The area's top male finisher was 30-year-old Michael Farkas of Riverview, who is a page designer for The Tampa Tribune. Crossing the finish line in 2:54:28, Farkas eclipsed his previous best in the marathon by more than 22 minutes to take 38th overall in the field of nearly 17,000 finishers.

Former Clearwater Central Catholic and Harvard University standout Kevin Lyons, now living and working in Miami for an equity firm, grabbed fifth place overall. The 24-year-old Lyons posted a lifetime best of 2:31:01.