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By BARTON PERKINS | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Running enthusiasts ended 2023 with a contest of sheer endurance at the second annual Run Undead Ultra Trail Party.

“Congratulations to everyone who toed the line and gave it their all,” read an official Facebook post by Zombie Trail Races. “We are truly humbled to bring in the New Year with such amazing folks.”

The Zombie Tail Race series is the brainchild of cousins Trey Clark and Nicholas Doss, who wanted to provide the residents of Alabama more opportunities to run.

“I’ve been running now for probably about 10 years, and we decided that we wanted to put on our own races about three years ago,” Clark said. “Our first one was a Halloween night race, and we really fell in love with it. It was a ton of fun.”

This year, Clark and Doss’s Zombie Trail Race series had seven confirmed races, five of which took place at Oak Mountain State Park. Clark attributes much of the race series’ success to Doss’s artistic talent.  

“Nick and I founded this together, and he is the creative force behind it all,” Clark said. “He does all of our promotional or artwork for races and merchandising. Without Nick, it would just really be a lame duck.”

Participants in this year’s Run Undead Trail Party had the chance to run distances from 25 to 100 miles as they repeated the same five mile loop. 

The following were ranked top five in the men’s division for their respective times:

-Zack Jordan at 17:46:45

-David Eastman at 21:43:58

-Doug Jones at 23:58:30

-Callan Hasling at 25:57:30

-Brandon Rager at 25:59:25

The following five women were ranked as the top five in their division:

-Heather White at 23:54:00

-Nikki Harvey at 24:42:40

-Elaine Acosta at 27:26:03

-Amy Adams at 29:27:45

–Rosie Nanette Gagnon at 29:27:50

“We take a lot of pride in putting on a really fun event,” Clark said. “Everyone is welcome, accepted and celebrated. Bringing people together over our shared love of being in the woods and on trails is an amazing thing.“