In the end no brains were eaten by the zombies but one arm was broken, many scratches happened, and a little heat stroke befell those who survived the chaotic, zombie apocalypse at Bangkok’s Wonder World Fun Park on Saturday.
More than 1,000 participants taking either the roles of “survivor” or “zombie” scrambled over the five-kilometer obstacle course at the first event of its kind in Bangkok. The monsters were professionally zombified by pro make-up artists while the survivors gathered to strategize their survival plans before the big outbreak kicked off early on what proved to be a hot Saturday. Unlike other races, the goal wasn’t only to reach the finish line the finish line – in this case the “safe zone” – but also have at least one life remaining of the three dangling from their waists.
“Our group wanted to be zombies and chase others as we already joined many races as runners before. We saw a zombie wearing a kimono in Run For Your Lives Japan, so we decided to dress up in Thai costumes to join Thailand’s race. We went to buy our costumes and props at Phahurat weeks ago,” said Rachel, who works as a product manager.
“Wearing make-up as a zombie seems like a bad idea in this hot weather, so we decided to join this fun race as survivors. We were chased by zombies and had to beg for lives as well. We had a great time and made new friends in the race,” said university students Pook and Prapye, both 18.
General rules were set out to promote safety for both parties, such as forbidding any direct, physical contact. However they weren’t restrictive enough to lessen the thrills of a little real danger, as reports of a few injuries came in throughout the day. Most were scratches taken during chaotic moments in the race. Fortunately, nobody had to be born again in undeath thanks to a helpful emergency team.
“We signed up as the survivors since we thought that being a survivor is more awesome. We also had a challenge to see who have the most lives left in our group, well, Jao-khun was the only one left with all the lives. But we want to try being zombies next time,” said Teng, Tai, Jao-khun, Prin, Title and Cop, students from Bangkok Prep school.
Many survivors hung their red life flags in front of their waists to discourage shy zombies from making a grab there, while particularly crafty survivors even hid them under their shirts. In addition to the roaming zombies, survivors had to overcome obstacle courses such as a tire-block, high-rise, blood pit and hospital maze. Screaming, chasing and laughing added more colors to the fun of running. However, the real scare factor? The heat.
“We wanted to be zombies, but we bought the wrong tickets. The race was fun and tiring. We found that hospital maze and the high-rise were the most challenging. We are all survivors,” said high schoolers Mod, Bam, Jeans, Pim and Pim from Amnuay Silpa.
The race was abruptly paused for an hour at midday after a few participants passed out from the heat, proving that Bangkok would be a safe place to face a zombie crisis: It’s just too damn hot for them. Many runners from morning rounds head home to take nice shower and a good nap dreaming of the apocalypse instead of joining the party as of lacking of nice provided bathroom and shade area to rest. Things resumed behind the schedule but the fun of afternoon rounds continued and followed by fun of the concert at night.
