Get set for DONNA Marathon Weekend’s return

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This weekend, February 7 – 9, Donna Deegan and thousands of runners, walkers and spectators will be participating in DONNA Marathon Weekend, which will culminate with a marathon and half-marathon course that starts and finishes in the heart of Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach.

 

The Beaches Town Center will once again serve as the epicenter of weekend events.

 

Listed as Women’s Running Magazine’s “favorite charity race,” the 26.2 with DONNA, The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer is the only marathon in the country dedicated to breast cancer research and care.

 

“Last year, we debuted a flatter, faster course that runs through Northeast Florida’s beautiful coastal communities. We look forward to welcoming back repeat runners, first-time participants and our incredible supporters for another exciting weekend that celebrates every step we take together toward finishing breast cancer,” said Donna Deegan, founder of The DONNA Foundation. 

 

Now in its 13th year, DONNA Marathon Weekend events include a 5K, half-marathon (with the relay option returning this year), marathon and race expo. Participants will run and walk through Jacksonville’s beach communities of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach on Sunday, Feb. 9 for the marathon and half marathon.

 

The updated route, enacted last year, makes the Boston Marathon-qualifying course — already one of Florida’s fastest — an even greater opportunity for setting new personal records.

 

“We are excited to welcome this wonderful event back to Neptune Beach,” said Neptune Beach Mayor Elaine Brown. “Last year’s weekend brought an outpouring of support for the runners, as well as our local business community. DONNA Marathon Weekend is a beloved annual tradition, and one that we’re proud to support.”

 

Atlantic Beach Mayor Ellen Glasser said, "If you have not run through Atlantic Beach as part of your race experience, you do not want to miss it in 2020! The first several miles of the course wind through our city and at every turn you will hear and see an enthusiastic welcome! We paint our town pink to support runners and all those whose lives have been changed by breast cancer. In supporting the 13th annual 26.2 with DONNA, The Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, we are eager to do our part, along with our sister beach cities, to finish this disease.”

 

The theme of the 2020 DONNA Marathon Weekend is #TogetherWeWILL, aimed at inspiring everyone through the power of working together.

Since its inception in 2008, DONNA Marathon Weekend has raised nearly $6 million in funding for The DONNA Foundation, moving over 13,000 families living with breast cancer from a place of fear to one of love by providing assistance and support when it is needed most.

In 2019 alone, the organization served 984 families living with breast cancer and secured more than $485,000 in financial services and debt relief.

The DONNA Foundation has also disbursed $3.3 million of race proceeds to the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Research Program.

For more information about events, visit: www.breastcancermarathon.com.