Thousands of athletes have run for their lives in Manila to survive an outbreak of the "undead".

Around 7,000 runners dodged 300 zombie actors racing along a five kilometre course.

The zombies hid behind bushes, bins and abandoned vehicles to surprise the runners and "eat their brains" by stealing the health flags attached to their waists.

The runners "died" when all of their three flags had been stolen, but they could earn themselves additional chances by accomplishing certain optional obstacles that included gangs of zombies guarding the prize.

College student Christian Ang, who dressed as the popular comicbook hero Captain America, took it upon himself to protect the other runners with his shield.

He said: "If people need heroes to look up to during the crisis of zombies, I'm here to save lives and motivate them to keep on running."

Those who survive the race were given special prizes for their efforts.

Organiser Judy Malabanan said it could even help train athletes for the Olympics: "I think this could be part of an Olympic training. As you can see our runners a really running faster, and breaking their all-time records, but to train for the Olympics you need a longer zombie- infested course."