At least 161 riders in the Builth Wells Mountain Biking Marathon in Powys, UK became ill after the race this summer and health officials think they know why: sheep droppings. After receiving reports of competitors suffering vomiting and diarrhea shortly after the race, the National Public Health Service for Wales investigated and found the race course a sloppy soup of mud, sheep droppings, and nasty campylobacter bacteria. Officials believe the riders became sick after drinking from water bottles covered in mud.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of this happening – in 2007 more than 200 riders got sick after a mountain bike race in British Columbia. In the BC case it was cow droppings but again, officials suspect it was contaminated water bottles that were to blame. I think I’ll stick to my Camelbak from now on 😉
