Brazilian runner wins Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon; Olympic hopeful Brittany Charboneau of Colorado wins women’s division; More than 17,000 registered runners compete in the 13.1-mile Star Wars-themed race

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – (April 22, 2018) — 2020 Olympic Trial qualifier Brittany Charboneau of Denver, Colo., won the women’s division of the 2018 Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon presented by OtterBox on Sunday morning at Walt Disney World Resort. The overall winner of the race was Vanilson Neves of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Charboneau, 29, won the women’s division of the half marathon with a time of 1:21:39 and was followed by fellow runners Katherine Burkowski of Windermere, Fla. (1:26:09) and Jennifer Barron of Paradise, Canada (1:26:09).

Charboneau’s half marathon win Sunday is the victory lap for an already successful year, as she recently qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials during the LA Marathon in March and won the female division for both the Disney Princess Enchanted 10K in February and Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January.

“It’s pretty surreal to be honest … I’ve been running for seventeen years and, up until a couple years ago, I had never won a race, ever, not even a 100-meter dash,” said Charboneau. “So, it’s just really cool, because I’ve been working so hard and it’s paying off, so it’s amazing.”

In the men’s division, Neves, 30, flew past the competition, building a five-minute lead before winning the 13.1-mile race in 1:09:55. He was followed by Dicson Peixoto Falcao of Fortaleza, Brazil (1:14:38) and Zane Grabau of Gainesville, Fla. (1:15:27).

Neves recently placed second at the 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon presented by Cigna. “The race was very difficult because it was very windy and I was alone for the first kilometer,” said Neves. “… But it was very exciting to win because I took second place in the marathon in January.”

More than 17,000 runners participated in the 13.1-mile race during the third-annual Star Wars Half Marathon — The Dark Side presented by OtterBox. The weekend of galactic family-friendly events included the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo and the runDisney Kids Races, in addition to the Star Wars Dark Side 5K, Star Wars Dark Side 10K and Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon. The weekend also included the 19.3-mile Star Wars First Order Challenge, where runners completed both the Star Wars Dark Side 10K and Half Marathon in back-to-back days.

The Star Wars Half Marathon — The Dark Side is the fourth race weekend in the runDisney series that encompasses Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Paris. This fall, runners can join their favorite Star Wars, Marvel and Disney villains at the Disneyland Paris Magic Run Weekend, September 20-23, as well as dine-and-dash during the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend presented by MISFIT, November 1-4.