A high-profile running festival on the iconic Chariots of Fire beach has been branded a farce.
Furious athletes have demanded an apology, claiming the event on St Andrews’ world-famous West Sands, immortalised in the 1981 Oscar-winning film, descended into chaos.
Participants said the town’s road running festival ran out of water and failed to deliver promised children’s events and goodie bags.
Routes were changed just two days before Sunday’s event after marshals dropped out, meaning that instead of passing many of the town’s historic sights, the half-marathon was simply four laps of the beach.
Other complaints centred on race distances being wrong and running times not being recorded properly.
Hundreds of people travelled from across Scotland and paid £18 each to take part in the second festival to be organised in the ancient burgh, but were left disappointed by what was on offer.
Organisers Pedal Powered Events have conceded there was “room for improvement” and said discussions were already ongoing about the organisation of next year’s event.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said there was huge unrest following Sunday’s debacle, adding: “So much was promised but nothing was delivered.”
She said: “The race was dangerous, with insufficient marshals, insufficient water, no boards on sand as stated, no children’s fun run as stated, no children’s entertainment as stated, no coffee van as stated.
“There was no consideration for health and safety and the organisers should never be allowed to run another event.”
Another competitor said: “Surely the organiser, who has taken payment of £18 from over 600 runners, could find alternative people to support the race along the original route rather than the farce of having them to run the West Sands four times.”
Pedal Powered Events’ Facebook page has been inundated with complaints from angry participants, with many claiming water ran out after just two laps of the half marathon.
Runner Liz Duncan added: “Those results are a joke. The person listed as running under my number is called Susan and listed as male.”
The running festival was allowed to go ahead after meeting licensing requirements laid down by Fife Council.
The local authority’s chief legal officer, Iain Matheson, told The Courier: “As concerns have been raised about the running festival we will shortly be meeting with the organisers to discuss the running of the event.”
Despite repeated attempts, The Courier was unable to contact anyone from Pedal Powered Events.