2015 – the year we really escape the zombie runs
THE 2014 fitness trend for ‘novelty runs’ – from escaping zombies to obstacle races – has peaked and this year will see a focus on ‘pure A to B running’, according to Jim Mee, founder of Rat Race Adventure Sports.
Mee, a former event manager for Red Bull who set up his mass participation sport company after discovering a personal interest in hill running, said turnover for 2014 is expected to be just under £5million compared with £4.5million for 2013, thanks to a continuing boom in mass sporting events.
‘Mass participation events have exploded over the past three to five years and people are running further and cycling further. One million people a year are running 5k Race For Life events and realising they can do it, then running 10k.’ But Mee said novelty runs in which people navigate obstacles or escape costume zombies are now passé.
‘I can’t say we will still be being chased by zombies in three years’ time. I think we will see a return to the fields, a return to pure events with an element of journey and purpose.’
Rat Race Adventure Sports, which is behind the Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest Events, was set up in 2004 when Mee held his first event in Edinburgh and just 300 people took part.
In 2014 Rat Race Adventure Sports organised 18 events, including Dirty Weekend, a 20mile long assault course with 200 obstacles, which 6,000 took part in, while 1,000 entered his 69-mile Ultra Marathon.