‘Tough Mudder’ course sickened hundreds with untreated water full of dangerous bacteria: Lawsuit

Hundreds of people were sickened at a “Tough Mudder” event in California in 2023 (KTVU).

Hundreds of people were sickened with rashes, fevers, headaches, and swollen lymph nodes after crawling through mud pits contaminated with bacteria from untreated water at a so-called “Tough Mudder” obstacle course in California last year, a new lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed by Evan Goldsmith, who was among hundreds of racers who took part in the event on Aug. 19 and 20, 2023, at the Sonoma Raceway and who reported rashes with fever, muscle pain, or nausea/vomiting from a bacterial infection called Aeromonas, typically found in freshwater, estuaries, marine environments and sludge. Participants flooded emergency rooms, a public health advisory was issued and an investigation was launched into the cause of the breakout in Sonoma County, about 45 miles north of San Francisco.

“We did the Saturday event and also the Sunday event, and on that Monday morning, we woke up completely covered from head to toe in a rash, not to get too graphic, but they were puss,” Goldsmith told local ABC affiliate KGO. “We drove home that Monday morning from Northern California to Southern California — by the time I got home, I had a really bad headache, I had a fever, it was really apparent at that point that we actually needed medical attention.”

In an email to Law&Crime, Goldsmith’s attorney, Elan Zektser, who also represents 150 other plaintiffs and plans to file more lawsuits, said, “It is time for Tough Mudder to step up and do the right thing. They recklessly made their die hard fans into never again participants by seriously sickening each and every one of them and some of their children. This lawsuit is a representation that companies can never put profit over people.”

The lawsuit names Spartan Race Inc., OCR US Holdings, which owns and operates Tough Mudder events across the country, Jill Gregory, then the executive vice president and general manager at Sonoma Raceway, and Brian Flynn, who took over the role following Gregory’s departure.

Tough Mudder representatives did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Sonoma Raceway declined to comment, SFGate reported.

In a statement to local The CW affiliate KRON last year, Tough Mudder said all protocols were followed, and the company was actively investigating to understand what happened.

Sonoma County spokesperson Matt Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.

The complaint said that almost immediately after the event, participants showed up at emergency rooms with symptoms of pustules, rash, lesions, fevers, diarrhea, muscle aches and other symptoms. Most medical facilities could not figure out what the patients had until cultures began to show Aeromonas as the bacterial source, the lawsuit said. Aeromonas can cause septicemia, a serious and potentially life-threatening infection that spreads throughout the bloodstream if not treated quickly, according to the lawsuit.

Health officials linked the cases to non-potable water on the event obstacle course. Most of the water used throughout the event was drawn from a hydrant fed by raw water from a spring and filter backwash from a potable surface water treatment plant typically used for dust control and construction, court documents said. Officials detected Aeromonas in all non-potable water samples.

Officials said 776 participants reported symptoms that included rash/lesions, fatigue, fever, headache, muscle pain, and swollen lymph nodes.

“Tough Mudder was aware that using the non-potable sources of water could cause severe illness in its participants,” the lawsuit said.

The year prior, Tough Mudder had over 30 complaints of illness in the exact location where the participants got sick, court documents said.

“Regardless of this knowledge, Tough Mudder conducted the race and knowingly and recklessly exposed thousands of its participants to severe illness,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants were aware that they were pumping their racetrack and showers with a contaminated water source, yet, they did it anyway.”

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