Frequently Asked Questions

A virtual running event is a running event in which you sign up for online that can be run anywhere in the world at any time of day. We offer various styles of events that range from having a designated time period for completing your chosen running distance to completely open events that you can choose to complete at any time. You can either use a GPS running app, and more specifically, have a Strava account, to link your runs to RFTW or you can manually upload your activities using our 'Add Run' feature. See the 'How It Works' page for details.

These are virtual events. You can run anywhere in the world but please make sure you’re safe. Even if you know you are going on a summer holiday, you can still compete in the event by running on the beach or walking through the mountains. You just have to make sure you run the full distance that you sign up for within the designated dates (UK time) if it is a Solo or Challenge event.

No, you don’t have to run but you must track your activity as either a 'run' or 'walk' on your GPS app or use a treadmill. You can also walk/hike/skip/jump if you want to. However, you cannot cycle or track your run on a motorbike/car. We will pick out anomalies from the speed of the run and we will not allow that user to get the prize. Remember, you are only cheating yourself.

Yes, we are now allowing treadmill runs to be synced directly from Strava and also allow manual uploads of treadmill runs with the uploaded image of the treadmill stats. Please do not cheat whilst using a treadmill such as hopping on and off as we are trying to motivate you to complete the full distance that you sign up for.

No. Step trackers are not an accurate tracker of distance. As much as we would live you to exercise as much as possible, as the distance is not accurate, we can't put a step tracker activity on the same leaderboard as fully tracked activities.

RFTW links with directly with Strava so when your run/walk activity is saved onto a Strava account, it will automatically appear on RFTW within 30 minutes or so. Once you have your Strava account linked, there is nothing else for you to do and it will make virtual running so much easier! Just sit back and watch your distance get added to your active events.

You can also upload your runs/walks from other GPS apps manually with our 'Add Run' feature if you don't want to go through Strava. Simply click the 'Add Run' tab and fill in the information about your run and it will sync to your profile within 48 hours.

If you would like to have the automated syncing of your activities, you can use any GPS tracking app that can link to Strava. You will need a Strava account to be able to link to RFTW, however you don’t actually need to use the Strava app if you have another, preferred app, linked to it. For example, I use a Garmin watch and I have created a Strava account which I have linked to my Garmin Connect app. This means when I run using my Garmin watch, my run will be recorded on my watch, transferred to the app then linked to my Strava account which in turn links to RFTW. For more information, please see the ‘How It Works’ page.

For uploading your runs manually, you can use any GPS based app so your upload will show distance and time correctly (Garmin, Endomondo, Nike, Apple Watch etc).

You can email us at contact@runfortheworld.org or you can message us through our Facebook (@RFTWvirtualrunning) and Instagram (@rftwofficial) pages.

We now deliver worldwide!

We use second class Royal Mail delivery for within the United Kingdom and standard Air Mail for international deliveries.

Delivery is included in the price for UK addresses however there is an extra delivery fee when you reach the payment page for Worldwide shipping.

For the UK, please allow up to 7 days from receiving your dispatch email to receive your medal (or more depending on time of the year / other circumstances)

For outside the UK, please allow up to 21 days from receiving your dispatch email.

A solo event is a one-off running event in which you have to complete your chosen distance in one run within the time period stated for the event.

A challenge event is an accumulation running event whereby you can run as many times as you want within the time period and all distances get added to your total until you reach your chosen distance. Challenge event rewards will be linked for the duration of the series. The first series is the 'Wonders of the World' from 1 July '19 until 30 June '20.

An open event can be similar to both solo and challenge events, however you can sign up anytime and complete your chosen distance in as much time as you need as there are no specific dates. Please check the individual event for more details.

A free event is a practice event in the same style as a solo event, however there is no entry fee. You will also receive a reward for completing your run.

The only difference between an Open event and normal events is that you can sign up and run it at any time you wish. There is no timeframe to complete your run/s inside so you can do it whenever you feel like it. Please check the individual event page for the rules of completion.

If you have entered several Open events, you cannot complete all of them with one run as that wouldn't be much fun! If you go for a run, that run will only sync to the first 'single run' Open event and first 'accumulation' Open event that you signed up for, leaving any others incomplete. Your run will still sync to any Challenge, Solo and Free events as normal. Once those first events have been complete, your next runs will automatically sync to the next Open event that you signed up for and so on.

There are two options for submitting runs.

1. You don’t need to! The great thing about RFTW is that it is all automated. As long as you have linked a Strava account to your profile here, your run will automatically get uploaded.

2. You can manually upload evidence of your run/walk from other GPS apps by using our 'Add Run' feature. Just fill out the information about your run, upload a screenshot/image of your GPS based activity and we will check it and sync it for you.

On your profile, you will see the events that you have entered with a little bar at the top stating whether you have completed it yet or not. If yours does not indicate completion within 48 hours or by the end of an event, please email us at contact@runfortheworld.org.

No, you can join as many events as you want. If the dates of any Solo and Challenge events overlap, the run that you sync will be counted towards all events. Example - If you enter a month-long Challenge Event (1 - 31 July) and a Solo Event (12-14 July), your run on 13 July will count as your Solo run and be added to your Challenge total.

Open style events sync with their own system in which only one Open event of a single run type and one Open event of an accumulation type will sync at a time, no matter how many Open events you have signed up to. This is to make sure that you get value for your money and to keep you motivated for longer! :)

If you cannot run, please email us at contact@runfortheworld.org to explain why. We would be happy to arrange something else for you. Our aim is to keep people motivated to run so we will not disqualify you if there is a good reason.

Once you have completed your run, the leaderboard will order you from your pace taking only into account the pace up to the distance you chose. This is based on the pace recorded from your GPS app. If there are any results with a pace that is not realistic, those participants will be removed. You can filter the results by sex, age, location and distance.

If you have linked a Strava account, once you have finished and saved your run, your results should take less than an hour to show up on the website. You can view your result either on the event results table that you signed up for or on your 'My Events' page. Please don't worry if it does not appear immediately, however if it has not appeared within 24 hours, please contact us at contact@runfortheworld.org and we will try to find out why.

If you are uploading your run manually, please allow up to 48 hours for us to check and sync to your events. If you cannot see the added distance on your event after this time, please contact us.

If your run means that you have completed an event, you will receive an email to state that you have completed the event and your medal will be sent out soon after. If you do not receive this email when you think that you should have completed an event, please contact us.

Note: If you are using the automated syncing with Strava and you think an activity has not been added to your event, please do NOT add the run manually until you have contacted us. this may result in your distance being added two times and we are unable to remove distance from your event.

You will be able to see every participant's results once they have completed their run. At the end of the event dates, no more runs will be added so this will be the final results table. You can then use the filters to view by sex, location, age and running distance.

If you are using the link with Strava: Normally, the link between the running apps is instantaneous, however occasionally it may take some time to link your activity from your chosen app to Strava and then again to RFTW. If the link has not been made within 24 hours due to any technological error, please contact us before uploading your activity manually at contact@runfortheworld.org.

If you have used the 'Add Run' feature: Please allow up to 48 hours for us to check your evidence and put it into the system to be added to your events. If, after 48 hours, your activity is not showing, this could be due to inputting the wrong distance or duration on the form so you can either try again or send us an email to find out.

Yes, all past Wonders of the World events will become available as an Open event for you to complete in your own time. You can find these on the 'Open' events page.

If you can't get a GPS signal for your activity app, don't worry. You can upload your activity manually by clicking 'Add Run', filling in the details and uploading the image of your run.

RFTW will take the first successful activity. For example, if you sign up for a 5km distance and you run 4km first, this will not be a successful run, so your next run of 5km will be taken. If you run 6km first at a 6:43min/km pace but then run another 5km the next day at a 5:29min/km pace, your first run will be the official pace.

Desktop version - If logged in, you will see 'Add Run' on the titlebar or on any event page. Click 'Add Run', fill in your activity information and upload a screenshot/image of the activity you are submitting.

Mobile version - Click the blue menu button in the top right of your screen and you will see 'Add Run'. Fill in the information and upload a screenshot/image of the activity you are submitting.

Once submitted, the RFTW team will check for any errors and accept/reject the submission. Please allow up to 48 hours for this in case of a back log of submissions. If you see that your distance has not been added to your event within 48 hours, please contact us to find out why at contact@runfortheworld.org.

If you have linked your RFTW profile with your Strava account, please DO NOT upload your activity manually as this will mean your distance will be added twice to your event (if you are taking part in an accumulation style event).

If you don't think your run has been synced automatically through Strava, please contact us at contact@runfortheworld.org and we will have a look first before you do a manual upload.

Note: We cannot take activities off your profile/event if they have been added twice.

We check manual uploads regularly during the day (UK time) so they are usually accepted the same day as your upload. Once it has been accepted, it will then sync within an hour.

If it does not appear on your event after 48 hours, you may have made a mistake on the upload form. The most common mistake is writing the duration incorrectly. Please use the format hh:mm:ss as shown on the form. If you are not sure why your activity has not been added, please contact us at contact@runfortheworld.org

As our system rounds the distances to the nearest 100m, this most likely means that you are just under the target distance. For example, if you chose to accumulate 100km and have synced 99.96km, this will show up as 100km on your profile. Try adding another 100m+ run and if it still doesn't change to 'Complete' please email us at contact@runfortheworld.org

As our system is in km, you will need to upload your distance via 'Add Run' in km. If you need to change an activity, you can find the activity by going to the 'My Events' page and clicking 'See Activities' on your active event/s. You can then delete the incorrect activity and then upload it again with the correct distance in km.

All events, including our free, practice events will have their own reward for completion.

The free events will have a nice, useful reward. Some of these will be running accessories and some will be general accessories.

The main event rewards will be a mix of medals, medallions, embroidery patches and more. Each reward will be themed specifically to the event and will hopefully be a great addition to your collection of running bling.

We have two medal dispatch days per week (usually Monday and Thursday) which means, for most events, you should receive your reward within one week of receiving your event completion email (UK). However, please allow up to 14 days in case of large numbers or disruptions with the postal service such as the Christmas period.

Everybody will receive the main event reward, however we have extra prize boxes for some of our events. Solo and Challenge events have prize boxes to be won and the number of prizes depends on the event.

The prize boxes include running merchandise such as sweatbands, a mini resistance band and a running armband (your choice of size and colour) plus some extra, cool gifts.

We will notify all winners of these prizes within five days of the end of the event.

The lucky draw winners will receive an email within five days of the end of the event and the prizes will be delivered shortly after.

We will check for any completed Open events twice per week (usually Mondays and Thursdays) ready to deliver the rewards the same day. Therefore, if you have completed an Open event, you should only need to wait a maximum of four days before the reward is sent out.

For the UK, we send via Royal Mail first class post so you should receive it only a day or two after that but please allow for up to 14 days in case of disruptions.

For Worldwide deliveries, we send via standard Air Mail. Please allow up to 28 days from completing your event to receive your medal.

If you have not linked your Strava account during registration, you will see an orange bar at the top of your page. Please click the link and follow the instructions. Otherwise, you can go to your Profile Settings - Linked Accounts and click on Connect for Strava.

Other users can see your basic information, running stats and events that you have participated in or have signed up for. However, nobody is able to see your linked social media accounts unless you become friends with them. Once you accept them as your friend, they will be able to view the links to your social media accounts (if you have shared them).

Your profile level depends on how many events you have completed, much like earning XP points on a video game. The more events on RFTW that you sign up for and complete, the higher your level will become.

We are currently implementing friend's leaderboards, private messaging on site between friends, sharing group results, friend's clubs/groups and many more ways to bring a competition and social spirit to virtual running. Look out for these in the future.