Chicago Mud Wars On July 28, around 6,000 runners showed up on Northerly Island for the inaugural Chicago Mud Wars, billed as a fun 5K with twelve obstacles and lots of mud. But rampant disorganization, a short course, broken obstacles and a lack of water and finisher’s medals resulted in angry participants flooding Yelp with scathing reviews and alerting the news. Over the next few days, the park district claimed race organizer Joe Bizzieri’s permit was for only 3,000 participants, a designated charity—Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America—stated that they hadn’t and wouldn’t accept donations from the race, Groupon and Living Social offered refunds to those who registered through their sites, and Bizzieri issued a formal apology on the Mud Wars website, citing “several occurrences beyond my control.”
