Well, it’s the news that we expected, but not what we wanted to hear. runDisney has announced that the 2021 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend which is held in January and the 2021 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend which is held in February have been cancelled at Walt Disney World. Instead these races will be offered as a virtual option.
runDisney says that they have based this decision on the “unique circumstances of hosting a road race experience on this scale under the current environment.”
For those who have registered for either of the events, they will have the option of receiving a full refund for the race or they will be able to convert their existing registration to the new virtual event, which can be run at home. For those who choose to participate in the virtual race, they will receive a medal for each distance they complete and a race shirt. For those who would rather be refunded their money, they will receive a refund back to their original form of payment. If their original form of payment isn’t available, they will be refunded via check or a Digital Disney Gift Card.
Registered participants will receive an email beginning September 23 with instructions on how to choose which option they will prefer and they will need to make their decision of which option they would prefer before October 7.
More details about this announcement can be found on runDisney’s website.
runDisney has previously announced that the 2020 Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend would also be run virtually.
As far as future races are concerned, runDisney will be making decisions with the safety and well-being of the athletes, volunteers, Cast Members and Guests at the forefront of their decisions. At this time, there are no further updates regarding future runDisney events.
