After Halloween night most monsters disappeared from Binghamton, but a few of the undead remained to search for human flesh inside the Nature Preserve Sunday afternoon.
During the inaugural Zombie Chase 5K, sponsored by the Zombie Student Association (ZSA), the Nutrition and Fitness Club, Intellectual Decisions for Environmental Awareness Solutions (I.D.E.A.S.) and the Running Club, students ran from the East Gym fields through the Pipeline Trail of the Nature Preserve and down the road behind Mountainview, dodging zombies along the way.
Members of the Running Club attached three neon green flags to the waist of participants before the race started. Throughout the course, ZSA members ran out from behind bushes to chase after unsuspecting runners and grab their flags. Each flag that was snatched by a zombie was a thirty second time penalty against the runner.
Marie Cupo, a co-president of the Running Club and a senior majoring in nursing, explained that the run was unlike any race they had put on before.
“[Co-president] Blane’s on the ZSA so he thought of an idea that we could work together,” Cupo said. “We saw a lot of ideas in the past about doing themed runs. It seemed like a great way to get people to start running.”
Tyler Owitz, a senior majoring in nursing, said that he ran the 5K to support his friends in the Running Club and because he is a fan of the “Walking Dead” series, of which DVDs were being offered as a prize to the winner along with homemade blankets and organic pies.
“The zombies were really into it, they were intense,” Owitz said. “It was definitely a little more exhausting than a regular 5K because you’re trying to spin and dodge. But it was really neat; it added a cool element to the run.”
One of the zombies, Kevin Mesquita, a junior majoring in psychology, reminisced about his favorite “kill.”
“We were driving back and we noticed a slow moving human right at the back of the pack,” Mesquia said. “So, we drove right past them, quickly parked off by the side and stormed out of the car at this lone human who thought that he was still alive. That was his last flag.”
The first survivor to cross the finish line was Jigar Gosalia, the vice-president of the Running Club and a sophomore majoring in psychology. Since Gosalia and the two runners behind him all lost flags, first place went to Maurice Green who — although he finished fourth — managed to keep all of his flags.
Green said that it was exciting to technically finish first, but that winning the pie was even better.
“The zombies were very aggressive,” Green said. “It was sort of like an interval workout because the zombies actually sprinted at us.”
Cupo said that the fun of the event was that it took the focus off of running.
“There’s no pressure,” Cupo said. “It’s just a way to get people to be active.”
Correction: A previous version of this story failed to list the Binghamton University Running Club as one of the event’s sponsors.