Running Bayou, All Systems Glow 5, Coasting the Coast, runningbayou.com, allsystemsglow5k.com Defrauded hundreds (if not thousands) of people out of race entries when he cancelled the race at the last minute. Kemah, Texas

As stated on their about us page (http://www.runningbayou.com/about-us/), Running Bayou operates two road running events. The Coasting the Coast series taking place at several coastal Texas towns, and the All Systems Glow races. This company sold admission to their races through the Active.com site. They have since cancelled three races a week before the race dates. 

I paid for two race entries for the Galveston event (*6/7/2014), and two race entries for the Surfside event (*9/6/2014). I received the below email on May 30th, notifying me that the race had been cancelled and that there would be no refunds.

"Hello!!

"Sorry to have kept you all waiting on answers and specific details for the Coasting the Coast Series-Galveston race. Everything was very organized and planned out until this week. Unfortunately, we have some disappointing news for you all:

"Back at the beginning of March when this all came together, we sat with the City of Galveston and they gave us approval as long as East Beach approved us (which they did). This past week, they informed us we needed the approval of one individual that owns all of Beach Town. Prior to this week, they never informed us that one person owned all of Beach Town and led us to believe that they were in control of the streets in that area since they had given their approval to run a route that included part of Beach Town. The owner of Beach Town has now refused to allow our runners to run through the streets of Beach Town, even though he has approved other races.

"We reached out to the city to see about changing the route,  but they have told us since it’s the beginning of summer they will not have enough police staff and traffic control to cover the race in a different route. Also, securing another location on short notice is next to impossible. Further, we cannot postpone the race for a date during summer, as the city stated that they have concerns for health and safety if we hold the race on any other summer date than the original date.

"It strongly pains us to have to inform you all of this, since we’ve all worked so hard to make sure you have a fun and successful race.

"Our plan for this race is to postpone it to another date after the summer heat wears off, probably mid-September to beginning of October. You are welcome to choose to keep your registration in this race, or transfer it to one of the other races in the Coasting the Coast series. We understand there will be those of you who understand and those of you who are deeply upset with us, but please understand we did everything we were supposed to do to ensure this race was organized properly, and the issues that came up were simply out of our control.

"We want to extend our deepest apologies for this. Believe us, the LAST thing we wanted to do was let ANY of you down, especially in the first race. This was a very exciting event, for ALL of us, and we are honored you chose to run it. We will keep you posted via email and the website once we finalize a date with the City of Galveston.

"If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to email us with those.

"Coasting the Coast Series Race Team"

Furthermore, on August 30th, I received the below email, notifying me of the cancelation of the Surfside event.

"Registrants,

"Due to a lack of overall participation we have decided to cancel the race in Surfside on 9/6/14. Also, at this time, we have decided to cancel the entire Coasting the Coast Series and we will close the company (Running Bayou). Much like you, we are extremely disappointed that this was the end result. For those that have registered, we will issue refunds to you as soon as possible. Please have patience through this process, we will get to you. If you do have any questions, please send them to info@runningbayou.com.

Thank you for your patience & understanding!"

Organization: Running Bayou, PO Box 1483, Kemah TX 77565

kevin.fitzpatrick15@gmail.com

832-340-3592

To date, the owner, Mr. Kevin Fitzpatrick has refused to respond to my emails or to my phone message. 

He seems to have taken down the FB page for the Galveston event, but there are many comments that are still viewable from the Active.com event site. http://www.active.com/galveston-tx/running/races/coasting-the-coast-series-galveston-2014

FB page for the Surfside event: https://www.facebook.com/events/616452138436544/685575321524225/?notif_t=event_mall_reply

Fact: upon signing up for a race, we agree that funds are non-refundable. If I were to oversleep and miss the race, then I should not expect a refund. This is completely understandable. However, there is a level of service that is expected. If the organizers of the race do not follow through on properly organizing the event, then participants should receive a refund. This is assuming that the race organizers actually attempted to organize the event, versus simply defrauding hundreds (if not thousands) of people.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer/scammed_list.shtml#report_online