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runDisney (stylized as runDisney, formerly Disney Endurance Series and The Endurance Series at Walt Disney World Resort), is the road race division of Disney Sports Enterprises, a unit of Disney Experiences, a segment and subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The division is designed to get runners to plan a "runcation", a vacation planned to coincide with the race they signed up for.[1]
 | |
| Formerly | Disney Endurance Series |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division of a whole owned subsidiary of a public conglomerate |
| Industry | Sports |
| Headquarters | ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, , US |
Areas served | US, France |
| Services | Road races |
| Parent | Disney Sports Enterprises (Disney Parks, Experiences and Products) |
| Website | rundisney |
runDisney consists of 26 individual races with 163,000 runners.[2]
In 1994, Disney held the Walt Disney World Marathon, its first road race while adding addition races later.[3] There were only 5,588 runners at this inaugural race of what became the Disney Endurance Series.[4]
Disneyland Marathon and 5K were run in 1995 three weeks after the LA Marathon on March 26, 1995. The marathon included Anaheim Stadium and a loop around The Pond of Anaheim, while its 5K stuck to Disneyland taking in six of seven of the theme lands.[5]
By 1998, Williams was named vice president of Disney Sports Attractions, overseeing a newly created sports & recreation division including its races.[6] In 1998, the first Donald Half Marathon is run at the same day as the WDW Marathon.[4] The first 10K Disney Classic race on October 3, 1999 kicked off Disney World's 15-month Millennium Celebration.[7]
On March 30, 2003, Sports Attractions held the first Disney Inline Marathon at the request of the International Inline Skating Association.[8] By 2005, a half marathon was added to this weekend.[9]
In 2004, Florida Half-Ironman Triathlon and Family Festival was started by Ironman North America and Disney Sports Attraction and was scheduled only for two years. The festival was held May 22 to 23 which include the Florida Half-Ironman, a Kids Race, and an expo.[10]
Disney's 10K Classic was renamed the Race for the Taste 10K in 2005 and moved to October 9 to coincide with the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, which then ran from September 30 to November 13. The Race for the Cure 5K was scheduled for October 8 with proceeds benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Foundation while Disney's Cross Country Classic was scheduled on the seventh.[9]
In 2006, the Goofy race challenge was inaugurated[4] as the half and marathon were scheduled for separated days for the first time at the World Weekend. 3,000 runners applied for the challenge. By that year, a Fun Run 5K and Kids’ Races were added on Saturday, while a Health and Fitness Expo was held Thursday to Friday at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.[11]
From May 5 to 7, 2006, the inaugural Disney Minnie Marathon Weekend was held but no race was a marathon.[12] The Champion 5K and Fun Runs were added to the ESPN the Weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2009.[13] The first Wine & Dine Half-Marathon was run in 2010.[4]
The 2014 World Marathon Weekend added the Walt Disney World 10K plus the Dopey Challenge for completing all four weekend races.[14] An additional race, Castaway Cay Challenge, was added to the weekend series in 2015 with the 5K race taking place on Disney Cruise Line's Castaway Cay.[15] The first international runDisney weekend was Disneyland Paris Half Marathon in September 2016.[3]
In September 2016 Disneyland Resort Paris held its first races at the DLP Val d’ Europe Half-Marathon.
RunDisney canceled all Disneyland Resort based races beginning in 2018 due to major ongoing construction projects (e.g. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the Disneyland Eastern Gateway and a new Downtown Disney hotel).[16] The Theme Park Insider blog speculated that Disney may be using the loss of revenue to the City of Anaheim and nearby business as leverage to expedite project approval.[17]
In the 2017 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which took place on November 5, 2017, a runner collapsed and died near the finish line in the Epcot parking lot. No other details were initially disclosed.[18]
In 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Star Wars Rival Run Weekend was cancelled,[19] while the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend was changed to a virtual race weekend.[20] On September 22, 2020, it was announced that both the 2021 Walt Disney World Marathon and the 2021 Princess Half Marathon Weekends would become virtual as well.[21]
On June 30, 2021, it was announced that in-person racing would return to Walt Disney World, beginning with the Wine & Dine Weekend in November. Some modifications may be made due to COVID.[22]
On September 11, 2022, during D23 Expo, it was revealed that runDisney races would return to Disneyland in 2024.[23]
| Weekend series[24][25] | Month | Location | Inaugurated | Discontinued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walt Disney World Marathon | January | Disney World | 1994[3] | — |
| Princess Half-Marathon | February | 2009[26] | — | |
| runDisney Springtime Surprise Weekend | April | 2022[27] | — | |
| Star Wars Half Marathon — The Dark Side | April | 2016[26] | 2021[28] | |
| Walt Disney World Inline | March/April | 2003[8][9] | 2007 | |
| Florida Half-Ironman Triathlon and Family Festival | May | 2004 | 2005[10] | |
| Tri-America Series Finale[10] |  | | ||
| Danskin Women's Triathlon Series[10] | | | ||
| Minnie Marathon Weekend | May | 2006[12] | 2008 | |
| Expedition Everest Challenge | May | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 2012 | 2015[29] |
| Walt Disney World Triathlon | September[12] | Disney World | | |
| Wine & Dine Half Marathon | November | 2010[4] | — | |
| Star Wars Half Marathon — The Light Side | January | Disneyland | 2015[3] | — |
| Tinker Bell Half-Marathon | May | 2012[4] | — | |
| Disneyland Half-Marathon | September (Labor Day weekend) | — | ||
| Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon | November | 2014[3] | — | |
| Disneyland Paris Half Marathon | September | Disneyland Paris | 2016[3] | — |
| Virtual Running Shorts Series | June–August | virtual/anywhere | 2016 | — |
Races
| Race [24][25] | Weekend | Inaugurated | Discontinued | Additional info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walt Disney World Marathon | Walt Disney World Marathon | 1994[3] | — | |
| WDW Half Marathon | 1998 | — | originally called the Donald Half Marathon[4] | |
| Family Fun Run 5-K[14] | — | |||
| Walt Disney World 10K | 2014[14] | — | ||
| Castaway Cay Challenge 5K | 2015[15] | — | ||
| Inline Marathon | WDW Inline | 2003[8][9] | 2007 | |
| Inline Half Marathon | by 2005[9] | 2007 | ||
| Florida Half-Ironman Triathlon | Florida Half-Ironman Triathlon and Family Festival | 2004 | 2005 [10] | |
| Kids Race | ||||
| National Kidney Foundation of Florida Gift of Life 5K Fun Run/Walk[10] | — | — | — | |
| Women Run the World 15K | Minnie Marathon Weekend | 2006[12] | 2008 | |
| Go Red For Women 5K | ||||
| one-mile | ||||
| Champion 5K | ESPN the Weekend | 2009[13] | 2011 | Disney's Hollywood Studios |
| Fun Run | ||||
| Princess Half-Marathon | Princess Half-Marathon | 2009[26] | — | |
| Enchanted 10K | — | |||
| Princess 5K | — | |||
| Kids Dashes & One Mile | — | |||
| Star Wars Half Marathon | Star Wars Half Marathon — The Dark Side |
2016[26] | 2021 | |
| Star Wars 10K | 2021 | |||
| Star Wars 5K | 2021 | |||
| runDisney Kids Races | 2021 | |||
| Race for the Taste 10K | Race for the Taste/Food & Wine Festival (October) | 1999 | 2009 | originally the 10K Disney Classic until 2005,[7][9] replaced by Wine & Dine Half |
| Disney's Cross Country Classic[9] | ||||
| Wine & Dine Half-Marathon | Wine & Dine Half Marathon/ Food & Wine Festival |
2010[4] | — | |
| Wine & Dine 10K | 2016 | — | ||
| Disney Fall Feast 5K | 2005 | — | formerly Race for the Cure 5K,[9] Mickey's Holiday 5K (-2016), Halloween 5K and Jingle Jungle 5K; ran in Animal Kingdom | |
| runDisney Kids Races | — | — | ||
| Half Marathon | Tinker Bell Half-Marathon | 2012 | — | |
| Tinker Bell 10K | — | — | ||
| Never Land 5K | — | — | ||
| Kids Races | — | — | ||
| DL Half Marathon | Disneyland Half-Marathon | 2006 | — | |
| Disneyland 10K | 2013 [30] | — | ||
| 5K | — | — | ||
| Kids Races | — | — | ||
| Half Marathon | Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon | 2015[3] | — | |
| Thor 10K | — | — | formerly Dr. Strange 10K | |
| Spider-Man 5K | — | — | formerly Captain America 5K | |
| Kids Races | — | — | ||
| Half Marathon | Star Wars Half Marathon — The Light Side |
2015[3] | — | - the Light Side appended in 2016 with the additional of the Disney World base Star Wars Half Marathon - The Dark Side |
| Star Wars 10K | — | — | ||
| Star Wars 5K | — | — | ||
| Kids Races | — | — | ||
| DLP Val d’ Europe Half-Marathon | Disneyland Paris (DLP) Half Marathon[31] | 2016[3] | — | |
| Paris 5K Family Run | 2016 | — | ||
| Paris 10K | 2017 | — | [32] | |
| runDisney Kids Races | 2016 | — | ||
| Expedition Everest Challenge | 2012 | 2015 | nighttime 5K: part race, part obstacle course, and part scavenger hunt. The hunt clues lead to after race party.[29] | |
| Yellow Shoes 5K | Virtual Running Shorts Series | 2016 | — | |
| Red Pants 5K | — | |||
| White Glove 5K | — | |||
Race for the Taste
The Race for the Taste, formerly Disney Classic, was a 10K route that started at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, then went through Disney-MGM Studios' new attraction, Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, then went along Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, and finished at the World Showcase in Epcot, where the Food and Wine Festival is taking place. A ceremonial toast kicked off the race while music and entertainment lined the route. Runners were required to maintain a 15-minute mile.[9]
Athletes enjoyed a ceremonial toast to start the race. During the run, participants were entertained by festive music and entertainment. A "Go the Distance" Expo was held October 7–8 which in 2005 had a special wine debut, Miles of Magic, a California Syrah wine.[9]
Race Challenges
Earn additional medals for completing multiple races.
- Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend
- Fairy Tale Challenge: run the 10K and half marathon[33]
- Walt Disney World Weekend
- Disneyland Half-Marathon Weekend
- Disneyland Paris (DLP) Half Marathon Weekend
- Castle to Chateau Challenge (2016-) in the same calendar year run one of the half marathon at Disneyland, the halfmarathon at Walt Disney World or the marathon at Walt Disney World plus run the half marathon at Disneyland Paris [31]
- Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Cinderella (2017-) run both Paris 10K and a half marathon races[32]
- Wine & Dine Half Marathon
- Disney Two Course Challenge [34]
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