OCR Under the Spotlight as Tough Mudder is Sued For Wrongful Death

Rob Howard / 23.04.2014

Almost a year to the day after Avishek Sengupta’s death at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Tough Mudder the obstacle course racing company has been sued for his wrongful death.

This comes after Sengupta drowned in the muddy waters beneath a ‘Walk the Plank’ obstacle and the company providing the water safety at the obstacle is a co-defendant in the law suit, which was filed after a long period of mediation between the parties failed to reach an agreement.

The suit alleges gross negligence due to overcrowding at the obstacle and the slow response of the rescue diver on the scene, and both the race venue and the sponsors of the obstacle are included in the suit.

The law suit will throw an uncomfortably bright spotlight on safety and governance issues in obstacle course racing, which is now a huge global business.  It will also look closely at the validity of liability waivers signed by competitors.  Tough Mudder call these ‘Death Waivers’, but the law suit will claim they are not enforceable.

The idea of the waivers is very similar to the Death Warrants signed at the original Tough Guy race in the U.K. (which settled for compensation in its own law suit against Tough Mudder), and this race too has had its tragedies.  There have been two deaths due to heart attacks and this year there was a very close call when a competitor was revived after being pulled unconscious from an underground obstacle.

There is also another law suit (for injury) ongoing in Canada against a race organiser and the state park in which the event took place as well.

The law suit resulting from the tragic accident at Tough Mudder is sure to focus attention on the safety at OCR events and attract high profile media coverage which will impact on all those involved in these relatively new events, be they racers, sponsors, venues or race staff.

The story of Avishek Sengupta’s death has been followed by Outside Online Journalist Elliott D. Woods and you can read his latest detailed report here.

He has also posted a video compilation of events on the day which you can see below. (Be warned, it is tough to watch.)

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