It would seem RIT just can’t get enough of zombies. On Saturday, in preparation for Halloween, Global Union joined the rest of the university in bringing zombies to campus and hosted its first Halloween Blowout 5K, where zombies chased runners through the course.
Aptly titled “Run for your Life,” runners ran along the track, with zombies trying to snatch the two flags runners had attached to them. Whoever finished the race the fastest and with at least one of the flags attached won.
“I’ve never seen this type of race before, and I’m excited to see how it plays out,” said Matthew Ferragamo, a third-year Game Design major, who managed the second zombie zone for the event.
He said that while zombies are able to chase runners they have to wait until runners have already passed the zone, to avoid ambushing them. Even then zombies could only chase them so far. This motivated Thomas Macias, an RA in Global Village, to volunteer as a zombie
“You don’t have to run as far,” he said.
The cold day and misty rain only seemed to add to the atmosphere of the event. “This is perfect weather for the zombie apocalypse. The rain doesn’t stop zombies,” said Harshita Sood, this year’s Global Union president.
The event began at 10 a.m. with registration. Students who’d preregistered paid $3, while those registering the day of paid $5 to run. The runners took their mark at 11:45 in the field outside of Nathaniel Rochester Hall. The race was scheduled to end around 1:30 at Greek Lawn.
Normally, Global Union plans a huge party but Sood thought this may be a way to draw in a different audience of International students.
“We wanted to do something different this year,” said Sood, “We wanted to keep the basic concept the same, which is to introduce new international students to American Halloween culture.”
Sood estimated before registration that there would be at least 40 runners. The first placed male and female were given $100 each on a prepaid visa card.
The 5K was sponsored by the English Language Center, OUTspoken, WITR, College Activities Board, Student Government, Resident Housing Association, according to the event’s Facebook page, which was managed by Brittany Remington, Global Union’s Director of Marketing.
Sood hopes to continue the tradition in following years, and hopes to see the participators increase every year as word gets out.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at RIT chapter.