DISNEY WINE & DINE HALF MARATHON WEEKEND ON SALE TOMORROW!
November 8-9, 2014
Join Disney for the ultimate runners night out. Celebrate the Fifth Anniversary of a spectacular 3-park nighttime Half Marathon with a delicious Food & Wine Festival After Party plus a 5K, Kids Races, lots of entertainment and more!
runDisney is expanding its portfolio of race weekends, adding a new Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA to debut November 14-16, 2014.
The new three-day race weekend will involve kids races, a 5K and a half marathon, plus several family-friendly events such as a Health & Fitness Expo and a pre-race Pasta in the Park Party. Registration opens March 25 at www.runDisney.com.
With Super Hero-themed entertainment and characters, the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend will be a unique runDisney experience.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this Super Hero collaboration to create this new runDisney race weekend for runners everywhere,” said Tom Wolber, senior vice president of Disney Sports Enterprises and Downtown Disney. “Our runDisney events continue to be hugely popular and by joining forces with the Avengers brand, we expect this race will appeal to an even broader range of runners in Southern California whom we hope will see this event as the perfect opportunity to unleash their inner Super Hero in a race to a personal triumph.”
“runDisney races are a natural fit because our comic book Super Heroes embody many of the same brand attributes as runDisney, such as heroism and intensity with a heavy dose of fun,” said Dan Buckley, president of TV, Publishing and Brand Management for Marvel Entertainment. “This race weekend will have a very distinct atmosphere that will appeal to comic book fans and runDisney fans.”
The Avengers event is expected to be in high demand much like other runDisney race weekends, which have sold out in record time in recent years. Overall, runDisney race weekends attracted more than 163,900 runners last year – a 40 percent increase over the previous year, making the runDisney series one of the largest in the nation.
The Avengers Half Marathon Weekend will be the eighth runDisney event and third at Disneyland Resort, joining the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend (May 7-10, 2015) and the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend (Aug. 28-31, 2014) at Disneyland Resort.
But the Avengers Half Marathon course will be a new 13.1-mile route through the Disneyland Resort and surrounding areas that will differ from the Tinker Bell and Disneyland half marathon courses. Runners who successfully brave the new Avengers Half Marathon course will receive a commemorative Avengers-themed finishers’ medal.
Fireworks signal the start of the 2014 Disney Princess Half Marathon presented by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014. Approximately 24,000 mostly women runners participated in the 13.1-mile course, which took runners through Epcot and the Magic Kingdom (photographer: Preston Mack/WDW Photos)
After the Disney Princess Half Marathon course record was clipped the past two years, three-time Olympian Kim Smith essentially shredded it Sunday, winning the event in a blistering 1:11:49.
Smith, a 32-year-old New Zealand native who lives in Rhode Island, lowered the event record by nearly six minutes, easily erasing Rachel Booth’s previous mark of 1:17:38 from last year.
Smith’s record-setting performance wasn’t unexpected. She ran a 1:07:36 in 2011, which still stands as the fastest half marathon run by a woman in the U.S.
The Disney Princess Half Marathon presented by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals was basically a warm up run for Smith, who used the 13.1-mile trek through Epcot and Magic Kingdom – her first runDisney race – as a training run in preparation for the London Marathon in April.
“Running through the Magic Kingdom was probably the best part of the race. The crowds there were great and everyone is cheering you on,” Smith said. “It’s just a fun event and pretty low-key for an elite athlete to do. But definitely a lot of fun and I’d recommend it to people out there.”
Smith, who was greeted at the finish line by Miss America Nina Davuluri, finished ahead of more than 24,000 mostly women runners. Two sisters from Columbia, SC – Kimberly Ruck and Alyssa Kulik – finished together in second and third place, respectively, (1:26:15), nearly 15 minutes behind Smith.
