Visitors bureau director says Dirty Girl Mud Run called off

July 21--The Dirty Girl Mud Run, which was scheduled to take place Saturday at Cato Park, has been canceled.

The producer for the race, Human Movement LLC, notified the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau of the cancellation Sunday. A press release from the CVB cited financial issues between the Dirty Girl Mud Run and Human Movement as the reason for the event's termination.

Charleston hosted the Dirty Girl Mud Run for the first time last year and attracted more than 1,200 participants.

Human Movement is a Colorado-based company that has been contracted by 100 LLC, a Wisconsin-based company, to produce the Dirty Girl Mud Run series. As the owner of the Dirty Girl Mud Run, 100 LLC has collected all participant fees and sponsor fees, and assumes all venue contracts, insurance liability and partnership liability.

Human Movement has been informed by 100 LLC that they will not be paying Human Movement to produce the Charleston event, said to Jama Jarrett, vice president of operations and communications for the Charleston CVB.

Jarrett said last year's race was a great success and they had hoped to attracted an even larger number of participants this year.

"Nothing gave us the indication that (they would cancel) this year," Jarrett said. "We have several participants coming from out of town and we owe it to them to let them know."

Jarrett said the CVB expected between 2,300 to 2,500 participants in the race this year. She encourages everyone who has already paid entry fees to go to the Dirty Girl Mud Run website to look into refunds or transferring their fees to another race.

Although the CVB has confirmed the cancellation of the event, a Facebook post on the Dirty Girl Mud Run page said, "Charleston Dirty Girls, please note the event owners of Dirty Girl Mud Run have NOT canceled the event in Charleston, WV, as reported by the CVB and local media. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, there are inaccurate reports the event has been canceled. Know that you will hear directly from Dirty Girl Mud Run should we have changes to announce!"

The CVB views the cancellation as a breach in contract and the incident has been referred to the city attorney's office.

"Our role as the CVB is to bring events to Charleston, provide a facility and promote them to the best of our ability," Jarrett said. "We have been hurt by this just as much as they have."

The Dirty Girl Mud Run is a female only 5K which features a muddy obstacle course and raises breast and ovarian cancer awareness.

Contact writer Josephine Mendez at [email protected] or 304-348-7917. Follow her at www.lifeofanintern-charlestondailymail.blogspot.com.

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