Models Sinead Duffy, Karena Graham and Aoife Walsh at the launch of Ireland’s first Zombie Infested 5k Adventure Race.
Pic: Brian McEvoy
We’re all anticipating it, it’s in the air. The Zombie Apocalypse.
It’s not just the Walking Dead on TV, it’s not just the kids growing up on Left for Dead and Resident Evil, it’s that feeling that life is just too comfortable, and maybe you don’t know yourself until you’ve had to struggle mortally against hordes of the Undead.
Speak for yourself, you’re maybe saying as you read, but the Dublin Zombie Walk (last held in 2012) attracted record numbers of people eager to dress as the shambling undead and make their way through town. On Sunday October 26th in the grounds of Malahide Castle, a healthier alternative to the Zombie Walk was on offer: a Zombie Run.
Run for Your Lives is a 5km run over an obstacle course where participants have the option of playing as either a Zombie or a Survivor. Zombie players are made up to appear grotesquely dead, and released into a Quarantine Zone. Survivors must escape the zone and make it to the finish without losing all of three lives.
Marc Jacobs, of Youth Nation communications was on hand to give us a little more information. “This is the first Zombie Run in Dublin. It’s for people who might be looking for something a bit different, and of course it’s for Hallowe’en. The trend at the moment seems to be for people looking to be more active in their pastimes.”
Run for Your Lives was created in the US by a Maryland-based company, and billed as training for the real Zombie Apocalypse that everyone seems to be expecting. Marc explains that “The event management company we’re working with selected Malahide Castle, and they were very enthusiastic when we contacted them. The emphasis is on activity, but let’s face it, if you’re playing a zombie, you’re under no obligation to run anywhere. That’s more for the survivors.”
More information is available on the Run For Your Lives website and Facebook page.
By Rúairí Conneely
