1,000 Runners Get Diarrhoea From Mud Run

Running is meant to keep you healthy but a group who took part in a run through mud have found themselves violently ill.

Around 1,000 of the 8,000 people who took part in the Mud Day event in Nice, France, have come down with norovirus - a bug that can cause violent vomiting and diarrhoea.

The mud is suspected to have contained the virus from animal faeces and participants are thought to have swallowed it while they were completely submerged in the mud.

Some took to the event’s Facebook page to complain about being ill the day after they took part.

One runner highlighted the smell of horse manure on the course while others blamed people for allowing their animals to go to the toilet in the mud.

Doctors treating the ill could not decide what made the runners ill, with some blaming gastroenteritis and others suggesting the illness was similar to salmonella.

However, one doctor disagreed with that diagnosis, writing on the Facebook page that three of his four patients had not even eaten at the event.

Organisers have spoken out about the mass diarrhoea epidemic, saying they would “make every effort to determine what could have caused the stomach upsets”.

One runner took it all in his stride, writing: “Yes, it’s very irritating, but at least it’s something to remember”.

He vowed to come back next time and take part all over again.

Maybe pack some Immodium though, just in case.