I needed £27,000 of surgery for injuries in trendy mud race
WHEN gym enthusiast Carrie Price signed up for a five-mile endurance race she expected a few bumps and bruises along the way.
But she never thought it would land her in hospital with life-changing injuries for which she is still having surgery almost a year on.
The mother-of-two broke her jaw and nose, lost two front teeth and had another pushed up through her mouth and into her nose after she fell and smashed her face on an obstacle near the finish line.
She has had three operations and by the time false teeth are implanted in the final procedure in the next few weeks, she will have had around £27,000 of reconstructive surgery. She has also lost her sense of taste and smell.
Now Mrs Price, 35, is suing the organisers of last September’s Tough Mudder event, questioning whether proper risk assessments were done to ensure competitors’ safety. Her case emerged after another participant, Olivia Jones, 24, also lost three teeth falling on the same obstacle in a longer version of the same race on the same day in Faygate, West Sussex.
Mrs Price was injured while competing with her husband Warren, 37, and four friends in the Tough Mudder Half, a fivemile race in which competitors crawl through thick mud, tunnels and water as they negotiate 13 obstacles.
As she tried to scale a 15ft curved ramp known as Everest – the last obstacle in the course – she slipped and crashed face first into the floor.
Last night she said her injuries have been ‘life-changing – it’s been very traumatic’.
Nicholas Hagi-Savva, of Slater and Gordon Solicitors, who are handling Mrs Price’s case, said the organisers of the event owed a duty of care to participants.
Tough Mudder said safety was its ‘number one priority’, adding: ‘We constantly review procedures and protocols to minimise risk, but with any sporting or endurance event there is always potential for risk of injury.
‘On arrival at any Tough Mudder event, participants must acknowledge and sign a waiver that they fully understand those risks and accept responsibility for any injuries as a result of those risks or of their physical condition upon entry.’