Tough Mudder participants reporting illness continues to rise
A participant crawls through the "Electroshock Therapy" obstacle during the Tough Mudder on Saturday, June 29, 2013 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
J. Scott Park | MLive file photo
According to an MLive Media Group report, more than 100 race participants have reported signs of gastrointestinal illness to the Lenawee County Health Department, including 25-year-old Ann Arbor resident Brandon Veremis.
“I was sick until Tuesday night,” Veremis told MLive.com.
Vermis said he will likely participate in another race, regardless. "I definitely will do it again, maybe I’ll take some vitamin C before the event."
According to a Tough Mudder spokesperson, 16,000 people participated in the 12-mile race that included obstacles such as mud puddles and pools of ice-cold water that runners were often submerged in.
LCHD officials began encouraging people who became sick after the race earlier in the week to contact the department so they could determine if the symptoms are due to a virus and the possible cause. Due to the volume of calls received since then, the department set up a special hotline and is now encouraging spectators, workers and participants - even those who did not become sick - to call 517-264-5215.
Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
Hmm
Mon, Jul 8, 2013 : 2 p.m.
That wasn't just mud in the mud pits
Klk
Sun, Jul 7, 2013 : 12:07 p.m.
I fear far more are sick than are known. My 18 year old son competed on Sunday. He started feeling ill Monday. Five days later, he had to be taken to the hospital for IV fluid. Hopefully he is on the mend, after almost a week of sickness. The ER doctor told him it's spreading like wildfire. Yesterday, in line in a grocery store in Alpena, I was talking to the cashier about it. The girl behind me said her mother had been sick all week and competed in the Tough Mudder last Sunday, and had not heard of all the sickness. The next time Tough Mudder sets up competitions, I sincerely hope they test their muddy waters, and take health precautions.
Jan Tripp
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 9:41 p.m.
This event raises money for a worthy cause and I hope this incident doesn't dampen enthusiasm for future events. It definitely lived up to its billing as "probably the toughest event on the planet" although I don't think the organizers were thinking about exposing everyone to the norovirus. Maybe the CDC will want to sign on as a sponsor along with Dos Equis and Advil! What doesn't kill you will make you stronger.
Steve Beisheim
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 2:21 p.m.
When you do something that exhausts your body.. your body takes control and you receive a forced rest.. Not so difficult to understand....
skyward
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 1:33 p.m.
That photo is not from the Tough Mudder at MIS and it's not the Electroshock Therapy obstacle. You run through the Electroshock Therapy obstacle. You crawl through Electric Eel, which was not in mud at MIS, but water on a plastic base. I'm not sure why that's important other than being tired of A2.com mistakes and misinformation.
skyward
Sun, Jul 7, 2013 : 12:22 p.m.
My apologies, and thank you for the correction, Kafkaland. When I went through Electroshock Therapy, no one was crawling. Never crossed my mind that people would.
Kafkaland
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 4:30 p.m.
Actually, it is. The wires are visible in the background. And some people eel through this obstacle to go under them instead of running through upright. Doesn't really help, though, you get zapped no matter how you do it. The electric eel obstacle doesn't have the mud trenches, and the wires are strung much lower than in the picture.
Dirty Mouth
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 1:24 p.m.
Also, toxins already in the ground, mixed with human excrement and very high water levels will produce a viral soup that will knock anyone to the ground.
smokeblwr
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 12:11 p.m.
I think those who finished and lived through the Norovirus probably deserve a bigger Participation Medal than those who merely just finished and didn't manage to contract the disease.
Pat Jilek
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 4 a.m.
My teammates and I ran the Mudder in a late heat on Saturday. We all had several mouthfuls of the nasty mud/swill and we all finished with no side effects almost 1 week later and all we have is stupid -sore muscles TM Rules
Dirty Mouth
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 1:25 p.m.
I bet you have a spider as a guardian saint, huh?
umichgirl
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 10:43 p.m.
According to the Free Press, it is Norovirus. They also want to get in contact with everyone that was there; participants, spectators, and workers. This was the number to contact: "The new hotline, 517-264-5215, offers information about the suspected outbreak. It also asks callers to leave information so that health officials can send them an on-line survey about their experience."
NoPC
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 8:46 p.m.
Yep, my nephew participating in it and is sick too. They must have made it tougher by adding a biological agent to the competition...
Jaime Magiera
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 9:24 p.m.
Hope he feels better
Elaine F. Owsley
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 8:09 p.m.
Good grief! it looks like he's crawling through a sewer. No wonder people got sick. Yuck!!
Kafkaland
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 10:52 p.m.
There is a big difference between mud and sewage. Unfortunately, some sewage seemed to have contaminated the mud here.
jns131
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 8:53 p.m.
Would not catch me doing this at all.
Kafkaland
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 7:47 p.m.
I ran the race in te first heat on Sunday, and the water was rather disgusting, worse than at another Tough Mudder that I did previously. I suspect there was a lot of rather unsanitary runoff from all the rain. And the water levels were high, you had to immerse yourself fully quite a few times. Fortunately, I didn't catch anything, but I can easily see how the exhaustion of the run can contribute to weakening your body's natural defenses. I hope the organizers test the water in the future and apply the same standards that are used for public beaches to determine whether the water is clean enough to swim in.
a2citizen
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 8:29 p.m.
"...apply the same standards that are used for public beaches ..." Are you a tough mudder or not?
bereasonable
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 8:09 p.m.
Wait a minute. Didn't you sign a "death waiver" before you started?
A2comments
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 7:21 p.m.
Oh crap! Couldn't resist...
ArgoC
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 7:21 p.m.
vitamin C haha But ... ew. lugemachine, it would be great if LCHD did the analysis you suggest. Clever.
Kitty
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 7:20 p.m.
wow a mud disease
smokeblwr
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 7:15 p.m.
Unfortunately, a vitamin C pill won't protect from a mouthful of feces.
jrigglem
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 6:29 p.m.
Worms!!! They got worms!! Please don't delete I'm merely being factitious
lugemachine
Fri, Jul 5, 2013 : 6:05 p.m.
16,000 people at varying levels of fitness. 12 miles of muck, mire, electric shock, ice-cold water and just sheer exhaustion. It's a given that a certain percentage of those people will evacute their bowels in the process... particularly if they were already feeling ill or were "mostly over" an illness but still shedding virus. I wonder if the sick people were exclusively toward the middle or back of the pack. If they were the unfortunate ones to come through later in the race after multiple deposits had been made and sufficiently churned into a viral stew. Just nasty! The closest I want to get to anything like that is running fartleks on the track.
YpsiBronc
Sat, Jul 6, 2013 : 3:44 a.m.
If your theory is correct, wouldn't this outbreak be likely at every Tough Mudder event?