The town of Banff is nursing a black eye after a report about a British man being beaten up and robbed made its way to news outlets in the United Kingdom.

Both BBC News online and the Independent ran stories that charity fundraiser Jamie McDonald was “set upon” and mugged by a group of new year’s revellers in the Alberta resort town.

McDonald took to his Twitter account pleading for help finding his missing bag, containing his credit cards, identification and video of his cross-Canada run to raise money for charity.

McDonald says his bag was left behind in a hotel room downtown after a surprise scuffle with men he’d been drinking with at 3 a.m.

“I got caught up and dragged into a hotel room and three guys let me have it. I scrambled out and left, and I left my bag back in the room with all my possessions,” McDonald told the Herald.

Banff RCMP later located the bag, and all of its contents.

“Luckily, they left it there,” McDonald said.

McDonald, 27, is running across Canada to raise money for charity.

Known as the British Forrest Gump, he runs dressed as The Flash, a comic book superhero, after asking supporters on social media to pick his costume.

After taking to his Twitter account Wednesday to spread the word about his encounter, donations poured in, he said.

“So I just got beat up, I couldn’t give a s--t but my MAN BAG that got left behind, has my world behind it. Video footage and more,” McDonald wrote on his Twitter account early Wednesday morning.

But by late morning, Banff RCMP confirmed they’d found McDonald’s bag.

McDonald began running from Canada’s east coast in March, hoping to reach Vancouver before Christmas. He is raising money for children’s hospitals.

McDonald said the incident hasn’t mired his view of the resort town.

He sent a message to supporters on social media:

“Thank you all for your support. I just want to say that all that can be done is being done and I’m OK physically, just a bit shaken up.”

On New Year’s Eve, McDonald tweeted that he was “spending the night in@calgaryherald.com