Inaugural Disney’s Princess Half Marathon Weekend to Create Fairy Tale Experience
for Runners in 2009
Fantasy-filled weekend to feature popular Disney princesses;
Event expected to rank among nation’s biggest women-specific endurance events
LAKE
BUENA VISTA, Fla.
(May 2, 2008) – Disney’s Wide World of Sports is creating Disney’s Princess
Half Marathon Weekend, a new fantasy-filled event in 2009 designed to bring to
life the “princess” in women runners of all ages and abilities.
The weekend event, scheduled for March 6-8, 2009, involves a
health and wellness expo tailored for women,
as well as two road races – a fun 5K and a signature 13.1-mile half marathon –
through multiple Walt Disney World theme parks, all themed around Disney’s
popular princess characters. In all,
more than 10,000 runners are expected to participate, making it one of the
country’s largest road races geared toward women and the only race runners can
experience a storybook start and a fairy tale finish. Women and their family and friends will also
have the opportunity to participate in a post race celebration at Magic Kingdom.
Disney’s
Princess Half Marathon is the latest addition to Disney’s Endurance Series,
which gives recreational athletes of all ages and abilities the chance to walk,
jog, run, bike and swim their way “around the world.” From running marathons to road races and triathlons,
participating athletes from around the world compete to stay in shape, to
achieve personal-best times and often to raise donations for charitable causes.
“Disney’s Princess
Half Marathon Weekend is a wonderful
opportunity for women and girls of all ages.
Disney princesses have attributes that all women want to possess:
courage, loyalty, strength, commitment and perseverance. We feel this weekend is an opportunity to
recognize those attributes within each woman and celebrate their
accomplishments,” said Kathleen Duran, sports area manager for Disney’s Wide
World of Sports.
Registration for Disney’s Princess Half Marathon
Weekend opens on Monday, May 5, and is $120 for the half marathon and $40 for
the 5K event. Participants can register
online at www.disneyprincesshalfmarathon.com,
beginning,
Monday, May 5.
About Disney’s Wide World of Sports
Opened in 1997 at Walt Disney World
Resort, Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex is the premier sports venue for
amateur and professional sports in the United States. The sprawling 220-acre state-of-the-art
complex features The Milk House, a 165,000-square-foot field house which seats
5,000 for basketball; the 9,500-seat Champion
Stadium ballpark; the Hess Sports Fields, which include multiple baseball,
softball and soccer fields; and Jostens Center, a multi-sport field house set
to open summer 2008. In addition, the
complex has 11 tennis courts, including a stadium court, and a track &
field complex. The complex is home to
more than 180 amateur and professional sports events each year, including the
NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp, the Major League Baseball Atlanta
Braves spring training, a Tampa Bay Rays regular-season series, the NBA
Pre-Draft Camp, the Pop Warner Super Bowl, the AAU National Championship events
and a variety of endurance series events, such as the Walt
Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon (January), one of the nation’s top
marathons, Disney’s Race for the Taste 10K (October) and The Twilight
Zone™ Tower of Terror 13K
(October). For more information, please
visit www.disneysports.com.
