The 10th Annual Princess Half Marathon Weekend Has Arrived

The 10th annual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend has arrived. Over the next three days, over 53,000 runners will participate in these women-focused races. So grab your costume, lace up your running shoes and get ready for a weekend packed with inspiration and achievements.

The 10^th annual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend presented by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals will take place this weekend at Walt Disney World Resort.

The race weekend, which has grown from 10,000 runners in 2009 to more than 53,800 expected participants this year, will include 226 “perfect” Princess runners (number of runners who will have participated in every Disney Princess Half Marathon).

The Disney Princess Half Marathon is the largest women-focused running event in the U.S., where the participants trade in ball gowns and glass slippers for running shoes.

More than 45 countries will be represented this weekend with 25,000 runners expected to participate in the half marathon, 13,500 in the 10K, 13,000 in the 5K and about 2,300 taking part in the kid’s races.

Two storylines that have emerged from this weekend’s races include:

Cara Koprowski (Longwood, Fla.), who is running the 2018 Disney Princess Half Marathon to fulfill her late friend Amy’s dream of running the race together.

Cara met Amy while working as an elementary school teacher following her family’s move to Washington state in 2007.

The pair became instant friends and Amy, a fellow teacher, was also an avid runner who inspired Cara to start running again following her recovery from back surgery. In March 2017, Amy passed away. This Sunday, Cara is running the Disney Princess Half Marathon, her first runDisney race and second long-distance run, in honor of her friend, Amy.

Carol Perry (Pewaukee, Wis.), along with friends and family, is running the Disney Princess Half Marathon to celebrate her sister Teresa’s recovery from stage III colon cancer. As a member of her local triathlon team, it came as a shock when Teresa was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016. After Teresa underwent chemotherapy and radiation, as well as colon resection surgery, her sister Carol made a plan for them to participate in the Disney Princess Half Marathon with a group of 12 “princesses,” made up of friends and family – many who have never attempted a half marathon – to celebrate Teresa’s courageous fight with the disease.

The runDisney Health & Fitness Expo begins Thursday at noon. All three races – the Disney Princess 5K, the Disney Princess 10K and the Disney Princess Half Marathon — all have 5:30 a.m. start times.

All races start and finish at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort. The runDisney Health & Fitness Expo is located at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

For a full schedule of the weekend’s events, see below:

Media interested in covering the weekend events must contact Jessica Baker a day in advance to arrange for credentials. Media must arrive at Epcot by 4:00 a.m. for live coverage of the 5K race on Friday and the 10K race on Saturday and 3:30 a.m. for the half marathon on Sunday.

Media Contacts: 

Jessica Baker, Disney Sports Public Relations, Jessica.E.Baker@disney.com

(407) 566-5743 (office); (407) 202-3179 (cell)

Darrell Fry, Disney Sports Public Relations, Darrell.Fry@disney.com

(407) 566-5338 (office); (407) 409-1612 (cell)

Follow along with Chip and Co. for updates on the weekend and other runDisney events.

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