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Disney Half Marathon becomes unusual sprint to the finish! The top-2 finishers in the men's event are separated by just over one second.

Usually 13.1-mile races don't come down to the last 100 yards, but that's exactly what happened when Chad Johnson edged out his teammate and friend Fred Joslyn at the 2008 Disney Half Marathon on Saturday morning.

Johnson won the overall title at the event with a time of 1 hour, 6 minutes and 53 seconds, just over a second faster than Joslyn.

"All of a sudden we turned the corner and the finish line was right in front of us," Johnson said. "I think we both had a pretty good kick at that point."

It was the first-ever trip for Johnson, who lives in Rochester, Mich., to compete in the half marathon, and he wasn't disappointed.

"The scenery along the course was great," he said. "I really enjoyed it."

For the women, it was a familiar face taking home the half marathon prize, as previous two-time champion Kim Pawelek of Jacksonville won in a time of 1:18:07.

Pawelek, 33, said it's always great to win a race in her home state.

"Even though it's only two-and-a-half hours away, this is an awesome experience," she said. "It really is a big deal to come down here and compete, and win."

The top local for the men was Hunter Kemper, 31, of Longwood. Kemper's time of 1:08:28 was good enough for fourth place overall. On the women's side, Melissa Corp, 48, of Longwood, took 35th place with a time of 1:39:41.

According to race supervisors, more than 16,500 athletes competed in Saturday's race. Over 18,000 are expected to run in today's full marathon.

Both Johnson and Pawelek said they would pass on competing on back-to-back days, but more than 3,000 competitors who finished the half marathon are planning to take on that challenge.

The 2008 Disney Marathon Weekend concludes today with the main event, the Disney Marathon. The race is scheduled to start at 5:55 a.m. in front of the Epcot theme park.

Article source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-disney1308jan13,0,4175843.story