BREAKING NEWS - THE INJURY AT THE WARRIOR DASH, GENESEE/FLINT MI 07/30/11, WAS NOT THE RUNNERS FAULT, AND OFFICAL WAS TELLING PEOPLE TO DIVE INTO A SHALLOW MUD PIT, THE BLAME NOW LAYS WITH RED AUNT EVENTS TO CLEAR UP.
AS of 08/04/11 ,4 participants have stated on facebook,they heard the MC at the start of the mud pit encourage them to dive in.
I participated in the Genesee County Michgan Warrior Dash as media ( hobby blogger). Traveling with the 3rd wave on Saturday 7/30/11, I finished about 1 pm taking many pictures.
I remember the mud pit where a later participant broke his neck.
I remember the loud and boisterous master of ceremonies (MC).
Baiting the participants as they approached the pit. Later runners said he was telling them to dive in.
The water was 18 inches at the most.
The rules were clear there was to be no diving into the mud pit.
In an environment that encouraged drinking and a 5k challenge course something went wrong.
A young man is crippled for ever.
Whose fault was it?
The spin was to blame it on the participant, but if officals were telling him to dive in the there is plenty of blame yo go around.
Everybody signed waivers but if the race organizers did something inherently dangerous like encouraging runners to dive into the shallow mud pit against the rule and there is an injury then the waiver means nothing and the race promoters, Genesee County Government, The Genesee County Parks Commissions the individual who encouraged the dangerous dive and you and me as taxpayers if you live in Genesee County are liable for the permanent handicapp of the young man that trusted the race would be safe.
Here are my pictures of what was happening at the mud pit.
Closer look at the the mud pit that was dove into, it was ankle deep.
I posted the above pictures and a race participant I met race day who I took pictures of, he was dressed as sponge Bob and is a professional, said the following.
Scott Reagan said on facebook "I would agree. The pit is not 3 ft deep. The footage of me going in on Mlive shows that it is only18" at best. Also, you can hear the MC saying to see us dive."
The following on an unrelated face book page of the Warrior Dash itself where I had posted the same pictures a facebooker who said:
"Elizabeth Koltonow" on facebook said " I ran it on saturday in MI and the MC was encouraging participants to dive in."
Another facebook participant in the Warrior Dash added,
Amy Williams "Also heard MC encourage people to dive."
Pics of mud pit
To see the waiver look below.
Here is an artical I wrote several days prior.
What did you see at the mud pit if you ran.
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