I recently had the pleasure of being the event photographer of the KMC 1st Four Ramstein Zombie 5K run to raise money for the Landstuhl St. Nikolaus Orphanage. What is a zombie 5K you ask? Oh man…. I have never been witness to anything so fun! Everyone in the race {even volunteers} gave $20 to go towards the charity. There were two types of race participants: Race Runners & Zombies. Registered runners received two flag-football like flags at the check in table that morning, while the zombies were hard at work with makeup to look super scary. Moments before the race began, the rules were explained. The goal for the runners of the race was to make it through the entire race with both of their flags. Sounds simple right? Then the runners were told that dozens of zombies were “hidden” along the race route to pull their flags at any given moment. Once both of your flags were pulled you were pronounced “dead” and therefore became a zombie too. At this point the ‘runners turned zombies” had the option to pull the flags of anyone running near them. Those of us working the face figured it would be impossible for anyone to make it through ‘alive’.
At 9:30 AM all of the runners lined up at the start line and took off on the 5K run around Ramstein AFB. I was so thrilled at the participation of both runners and zombies alike to get into character. It is such a joy to see people with such big hearts rallying for such a good cause. There was also a ticket based giveaway with plenty of goodies donated from some of the favorite shops at the Ramstein Exchange. The photos below are from the whole day, start to finish. I ended up running the race backwards so I could catch photos of all the participants. The shirtless guys were booking it. I don’t think anyone made it through with both flags. By the end of the race everyone was eager to show me that they had all turned into zombies! It was such a fun and inspiring event!
The event raised over $3,900 for the St. Nikolaus Orphanage (more to follow) with 0 safety incidences. A huge thanks to Zach and Crystal Bach of the KMC 1st Four for inviting me to photograph this glorious event! You guys did such a fantastic job and made this day so much fun! I look forward to working with the KMC 1st Four again soon. Thanks also to all of the volunteers that came out to support the cause including the zombies, the 5K path zone directors, and make-up artists. Without all of your help, this event would not have been possible! Great job everyone!
If you were a part of this event and you would like to purchase your photo please visit the Zombie 5K Gallery. Photos are available in 3×5, 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10. Images will be sent directly to you at your address!
