--- title: Tough Mudder Racers Caught Vomiting Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water description: A Tough Mudder race from October of 2012 made 22 people sick after they ingested bacteria in muddy water, a study from the CDC reports canonical: https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-04T16:14:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:38:41.564Z article:section: Health og:title: Tough Mudder Racers Caught Vomiting Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water og:description: A Tough Mudder race from October of 2012 made 22 people sick after they ingested bacteria in muddy water, a study from the CDC reports og:url: https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34ff6ca7606b04cb/69868dc536176050c690bd36/480116821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2014 Tough Mudder og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tough Mudder Racers Caught Vomiting Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water twitter:description: A Tough Mudder race from October of 2012 made 22 people sick after they ingested bacteria in muddy water, a study from the CDC reports twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34ff6ca7606b04cb/69868dc536176050c690bd36/480116821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tough Mudder Racers Caught Stomach Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney May 4, 2014 4:14 PM UTC  A competitor falls into muddy water during Toughmudder at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on March 22, 2014 in Phillip Island, Australia. A competitor falls into muddy water during Toughmudder at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on March 22, 2014 in Phillip Island, Australia.Quinn Rooney—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney May 4, 2014 4:14 PM UTC Falling face-first into the mud during an extreme endurance event like the Tough Mudder race could solidify your status as a hardcore adventurer, but a team of unlucky participants discovered it could also send you to the hospital with a severe stomach bug. In Oct. 2012, three active-duty military members went to an air force hospital with fever, vomiting and hemorrhagic diarrhea, [according to a report](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6317a2.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6317a2%5Fx) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday. Doctors determined that all three patients had competed in a Tough Mudder race in Beatty, Nev., just a few days before, and all had either plunged their heads into some sloppy earth or been partially submerged under water. A subsequent investigation found evidence of 22 cases, 4 confirmed and 18 probable, of _Campylobacter coli_, or C.Coli, which likely found its way into the muddy water by way of fecal matter from cows and pigs. Lt. Col. Chad Claar, who lead the research, told the Washington _Post_ [he suspected](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/05/01/the-latest-obstacle-in-obstacle-racing-is-bloody-diarrhea/?tid=sm%5Ffb) there were likely more people who suffered from the outbreak but either sought private medical care or didn’t fall ill enough to seek treatment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/"},"headline":"Tough Mudder Racers Caught Stomach Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water","datePublished":"2014-05-04T16:14:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:38:41.564Z","description":"In a new CDC report, researchers say that multiple cases of fever, vomiting and explosive diarrhea were likely the result of C.Coli infections that victims picked up while traversing a muddy obstacle course at a Tough Mudder competition in Nevada","url":"https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","fitness","illness"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34ff6ca7606b04cb/69868dc536176050c690bd36/480116821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34ff6ca7606b04cb/69868dc536176050c690bd36/480116821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 Tough Mudder","caption":"2014 Tough Mudder","creditText":"Quinn Rooney—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/87116/tough-mudder-diarrhea-vomiting-bacteria/","name":"Tough Mudder Racers Caught Stomach Bug After Ingesting Muddy Water"}}]}] ```