Toughrunneruk Reviews 138

Entered Wye Valley 10km in July 2023. Actual race was 9km, and I never received my medal. Sorry, so what did I pay for exactly? I emailed them four, maybe five times? Got two responses saying it was on the way, this is months ago now, and it absolutely isn’t coming. I’ve been blocked on their social media when I’ve called them out. The guy that runs this is known to be a con artist, and is now operating under Run Afan Forest. Incredibly disappointing, and not worth the money I paid. Word going round is that events weren’t properly insured either. Just took our money and ran! (Excuse the pun.).

Unfortunately joining the long list of negative reviews for people having had events cancelled at the last minute. I first purchased entries back in 2019 and since then the event has been cancelled and rearranged three times. This last cancellation has put the final nail in the coffin and they have ceased the event and emailed offering refunds or deferrements. I went for refund and after two months and many emails, I'm still waiting for the money and any sort of acknowledgement or response.

Edit 17/11/23 - Runafan are now on Trustpilot, I urge all those here to add their comments on to that page too.

I signed up for Cork Standard Triathlon way back in Jan 21, cancelled 3 times, no email or text thd last time it was cancelled. Tried contacting Adam on many occasions with regard my refund to which he fobbed me off with one lie after another. I'm very aware that he owes thousands to many many people. He is a conman, still taking money. The reason he still taking money for other races is the fact that he has transfered all those new races to his other company 'RunAfan forest', for which is also the company director. The man is also company director to other companies. Be very careful of this man Adam Newton

This company needs to be stopped. There is a police investigation into possible serious fraud. With potentially many thousands of athletes being owed money. Police want to hear from anyone who is owed money from Tough Runner. If you are an athlete like me that has entered a race which didn’t take place and you have not had a refund then you need to report it. Also the police want to hear from any business that’s is owed money as well. It is vital to get justice and this requires as many people as possible to call phone the following number 03001232040 and quote Ref number NFRC230906204532. Please like the find this helpful button on this post if you have called so we can assess how many have. Please share this in any groups you are in or with friends that are also effected. They will escalate this to a higher priority if they receive a lot of information. This is only open to people in England or Wales. If you live in Scotland or Ireland then you can call the number and they will advise on who you need to call in your region.

Complete scam. Booked for the Oxfordshire Epic Trail Festival 2023 at Cornbury Park, noticed a couple of days before that the event had been deleted from their Facebook and the webpage for the event had also gone. No email or communication from Tough Runner in the lead up to the event. Drove to address provided when booking, no signs, no race, nothing. Have tried to get information from Tough Runner about whether the event did take place but nothing. Just a complete scam!

UPDATE
Repeatedly tried to email and message their social media to get money back, continuously ignored. Their name is now RUN AFAN - do not book any races with them or do business with them, they will steal your money, they are criminals with an ongoing police investigation against them.

*UPDATE* After starting a chargeback via the bank, I got a refund of entry fees and t-shirt. Yesterday, 15th November, all participants received an email saying Falkirk HM postponed. That’s Adam Newton’s way of getting out of making refunds. This event was NEVER going ahead. No race numbers or pre-ordered t-shirts were sent out.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. If there was an option for zero stars I'd have picked it!
On 16th September, I entered Falkirk HM and paid £25 earlybird fee. On 26th September ToughRunner emailed me asking if I'd like to purchase a commemorative t-shirt. I did, another £20. Then the next day I see on FB that ToughRunner has gone into administration, so Adam Newton took my money (and probably lots of other folks money) under false pretences.

After commenting, about the company being in administration, he came onto the FB page (Running Friends Scotland) to reassure everyone that the event has been taken over by another one of his companies, Run Afan.

This didn't sit well with me and I requested a refund for my entry fee and t-shirt. That's when Adam started to get beligerant, saying why did I want to cancel when the event is still going ahead?

He has now sent me abusive messages condemning my behaviour - politing asking for a refund - he is a con artist, end of. He advised me to go to their Refund Policy section on their web page. I did this, only to find out that the page has been disabled. Entrants have 14 days from date of entry to request a refund. By disabling the links on his web page, entrants cannot access the refund policy.

Today, I received an email from Naomi asking what size t-shirt I would like. I advised her that I'd like a refund. Now she too has gone quiet with no response.

I've reported to Trading Standards, and all the places I've seen their events being advertised. Too many people being conned out of their money by this excuse of a man.

We showed up at the Oxfordshire Epic event on Saturday only to find the event was cancelled. Many many people were driving around in circles trying to figure out what was going on. The ToughRunner website is no longer functioning and this company has now magically transformed into Run Afan Forest - no press release, no re-direct, no information whatsoever. Be wary.

I ran the Wye Valley 10k in July, we were told our medals were stuck in Customs! Despite promises by Adam that the medals have recently been posted to runners, we are still waiting! We have paid for and earned these medals, I’m afraid Adam is not being honest with us, will avoid Tough Runner events in the future

We were asked to provide a presenter and PA system for their Drumlanrig event in June 2023. We only received 50% before the event and are still waiting on the balance and additional costs to be paid. On 18th September Adam Newton informed us that he has appointed a liquidator to liquidate his events in Scotland. All of their events are now advertised via his other company Run Afan Forest Ltd

I (Jackie) attended the Wye Valley 10k at the end of July this year. We were advised on the day that our finisher medals were stuck in customs and they would be posted to us the following week. Since then, I and other fellow runners have chased the delivery of these medals and have all been given different postage dates for our medals by Adam. We found out this weekend that the medals have in fact not been posted despite being told by Adam on repeated occasions they had been posted. It is extremely disappointing that what Adam has repeatedly promised he has not actually delivered on. The course was also not a 10K distance despite being advertised as a 10K course event. To be honest I was not too bothered about this, I am bothered I have not received my earnt and paid for medal.

This company owes my family over 3.5k for work completed, we’ve put in a county court judgement along with 7 others we know about, just on file these amount to 10s of thousands of pounds! Please ignore any positive feedback and please don’t give this man any more of your hard earned money, he is not paying any of the people working at the events who are there to keep you safe! Reading these makes me so angry, how can he is still trading! Be a decent human being and pay your bills please!!

Two years since paying to attend thier Edinburgh and Glasow triathlon events no event is confirmed as of the date of this review. Glasgow event is now not even on thier webpage. After numerous requests to be provided a refund and last 2 requests ignored I tried their Facebook messanger service to receive only a laughing emoji from them (as have others). Thier landline number does not work, their mobile rings out and thier Web chat does not get a response. I have now reported the company to the UK Goverment Insolvency Services Investigations and Enforcement services for action and failing this will raise with small claim court. Would be interested to understand what has happened to this company as it appear no professional.

Company literally sent laugh emojis after basically begging for the refund for the cancelled Edinburgh triathlon, they don't care. Same as another poster, emails with naomi until refund which was an option given by her was requested by myself and now silence.

Tough runner owe multiple medical providers many thousands of pounds for medical cover provided at their events. We are owed 8k, another provider 9k and another we know of 10k.. I can expect there are more we don't know about. This is a scam event hitting small businesses by not paying them.

I entered the Cork Standard Triathlon in June. It was cancelled without warning and I'm still waiting on a refund.

This company are scamming people of their money and it's plain to see from the below reviews that I'm not alone.

Avoid by all costs.

Cancelled the triathlon. Asked for a refund. Emailed, messaged and called numerous times. Constantly fobbed off. Over 3 months later, still no refund..I’d recommend any one not signing up for a race with this company they are not reliable!

Completely agree with all the other 1 star reviews and I am very sceptical of the 5 star reviews as they all seem to appear on the same day which screams as a plea from the company for people to leave reviews.
It appears that if they put on an event it must go ok but if for some reason your races gets cancelled you have completely lost your money and they have absolutely no intention of returning your money, even though they will reply to an email stating that they will refund you, once they have done that you won’t hear from them again.
For me the writing was on the wall when they advertised their race during Covid saying they had all necessary licences and had been given the go ahead to put on a race, so they could get your money. Then cancelled said race because of Covid which suggests they never had anything in place and were lying in their advertisement, worst part was that just before they cancelled, restrictions actually eased, again suggesting they never had permission but were happy to say they did.
Since then they have cancelled subsequent races and when I asked if I could just get a refund I got a reply stating I would but then haven’t heard a word from them with many follow up emails. Going by other reviews this is obviously a tactic of theirs.
The whole experience with this company has been terrible and completely opposite to any other experience I have had with a company that puts on these types of events. I highly recommending avoiding giving them any money unless you can turn up on the day of the event and pay to take part.

Did the Wye Valley 10k… the 2 stars are for the nice route and free race photos …. But the route was short , only 5.6 miles and we didn’t get medals. Were told they would be posted out in the coming days and that was a month ago now.

SCAMMERS
They will not reply or give your money back if you go to their liar races.

Would strongly caution anyone against giving this crowd your money.

Entered Cork Std Triathlon for 2021, however, event was cancelled due to Covid (which is understandable). Emailed them asking for a refund only to be told that entries would be rolled over to 2022 (again, understandable).

Come 2022 and event is cancelled again (getting annoyed now). Emailed them again and was, again, advised that a refund was not possible and that my entry would be rolled over to 2023.

Since then I have not received any further communications from Toughrunneruk, neither about the 2023 (which I am unable to find any record of it actually taking place) nor a refund.

They are also no longer responding to my emails on the matter.

AVOID!!!!