News & Stories

Annual Zombie Chase

Zombies. Dead bodies. Scared kids. No, it wasn’t an episode of the Walking Dead. It was the Loppet’s Annual Zombie Chase.

Every Halloween Loppet staff dress as zombies, hide in the woods and jump out of trees and bushes intent on scaring the athletes on our middle school teams as they run through Theodore Wirth Park. Last year the best aspect was Nellie Stone Johnson Head Coach Jon Miller who jumped out of the woods with a chainsaw. Yes, a real one. Scared most of the Loppet staff, too.

This year by far it was new-guy Mark Relson who was lying next to a downed tree. The sight of him startled Advancement Director Kristen Spargo’s 7-year-old son who whispered, “Mom…there’s someone else here…”

Another great twist was the theft of the Loppet van. Coach Mom (aka Nancy Nelson) picked up the Nellie Stone Johnson team and took them to the fishing pier for a light workout. When they arrived at the van it was gone! So she told the kids they would have to job over to the Loppet office to tell them about the missing van and get the other key…leading them right through “tornado alley.” Oh, and she had told the team that Coach Jon had not had time to plan the Annual Zombie Chase because he was too busy to organize it. Leaving the unsuspecting youth to fall right into our trap…

Loppet staff and friends, including Kristen’s three children, all dressed in their zombie best, awaited for the youth to run through. Then, they jumped out! A combination of screams and laughter ensued.

Later the Anwatin and Northeast teams ran through to similar results.

Overall, the middle schoolers had a blast. Mark definitely garnered the most genuine fright and surprise! Kristen’s kids…not so much. In fact, after her oldest son, Dean, expressed frustration after the Nellie Stone Johnson team went through that he wasn’t scary enough. So when the other teams went through Kristen hid with her daughter up the path from her boys and asked the middle schoolers to feign fear. The middle schoolers went along with it, and Kristen’s boys excitedly told her afterward how much they had scared “the big kids.”

Kristen’s brood is looking forward to next year’s Annual Zombie Chase. On the way home they were planning next year’s costumes!