On March 10, an interesting group of volunteers gathered at the Cochrane and District Agricultural Society. Their motivation: brains.
A troupe of zombies and runners were running around the grounds, in and out of the stabling area, filming a promotional video for the upcoming Zombie Survivor, a five-kilometre, obstacle-filled, undead-themed fun run.
Slated to run at the Ag Society July 20, the run is the brainchild of Calgary engineers and entrepreneurs Adil Hooda and Kyle Fitzgerald.
“It was the trend of The Walking Dead and all the zombie movies we were watching that gave us the idea,” said Hooda, who is coordinating the event alongside Fitzgerald. “It’s a unique event that isn’t being done in the Calgary area right now.”
Modelled after similar races, including the U.S.-based Run For Your Lives, Zombie Survivor will have participants wearing either three or five flags for the race. Throughout the 5k, zombies will be coming after these flags. If you lose all your flags, you’re dead.
The 10-12 obstacles will up the difficulty of the track and could include anything from (fake) barbed wire to weave through, a mud crawl, and water pits, said Fitzgerald.
“Just imagine climbing a net with zombies reaching for you and grabbing for the flags,” said Fitzgerald. “There will be zombies hidden everywhere.”
The event will be timed and lives (flags) will be tracked, said Hooda. The ultimate goal is to finish “alive,” with flags still attached to your person.
The entrepreneurs chose the Cochrane location for it’s close proximity to Calgary and the varied terrain. Participants can register for the event as either a zombie or a runner. Fitzgerald said he and Hooda are hoping to have make-up artists and a wardrobe on hand for zombie transformation.
The coordinators are planning for a minimum of 2,000 participants, but said they have room for the event to grow to 4-5,000.
Registration for the event opens March 15. Super-earlybird prices — $45 for runners and $25 for zombies — will be available until March 18. After that, earlybird registration goes up to $55 for runners and $30 for zombies. Regular registration will kick in mid-April, charging $65 for runners and $35 for zombies.
The event is open to those 14 years and older, but parental consent is required for those under 18.
To find out more about the event, visit zombiesurvivor.ca, or check out their Facebook page facebook.com/zombiesurvivorcanada.
