Woman runs into record books, beats entire field at Disney Princess Half Marathon

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla – A Colorado woman made history becoming only the third woman to win the overall title at a runDisney half marathon.

Neely Gracey from Denver, Colorado beat the entire field at Sunday’s Disney Princess Half Marathon at Walt Disney World Resort, according to a news release.

Gracey joins Giovanna Martins, the 2017 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon winner and Jackie Pirtlehall, the 2019 Disney Princess Half Marathon champion who have accomplished the feat.

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“I’ve never done back-to-back races like this before and so running the 10K yesterday and then prepping to run the half (marathon) today, I had to utilize some strategies that I’ve learned over my almost 20 years of running to really make sure that I was able to finish strong today and it paid off,’’ Gracey said.

According to the release, Gracey passed second-place finisher Michael Fussner in the final stages, crossing the finish line just seven seconds ahead of him, running the 13.1-mile course through EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom in 1:15:55.

“I passed the top female at that point when we were in Magic Kingdom and then I just kind of kept rolling after that,’’ said Gracey, who was running in her first event of 2023. “I was in third for a while, then second for a while and then I really didn’t get past the top male until we were about less than half a mile out from the finish line. So, it really all just happened in the last two minutes of the race.’’

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