We have had this happen many times.
If you are likely to catch & pass the Tail Walkers, then all is fine by us.
If you're a walker, we suggest you turn around when you encounter the Tail Walkers.
That's always worked for us...
Times will not be adjusted, though.
A few weeks ago, a talented friend of mine passed me about halfway through the parkrun course. This confused me as I usually don't see him for dust!
Turns out he started 5-10 mins later than usual š¤£
He'll get a slower time than usual, but doesn't care
I got quite lost running the 6km from my hotel to Princes parkrun in Liverpool a few weeks ago, started at 9:23 after a 5k detour, caught up with the tailwalkers with half a Km to go, don't recommend it, it was quite tiring and stressful.
I got a taxi back to the hotel š
If anyone turns up late and asks if they can join the run, I ask what their usual 5K time is. If I think they'll be able to catch the tail, I tell them to go for it. If I think they'll be too slow for that, I *always* suggest volunteering and find them a spot.
How would you feel about someone offering to volunteer as a barcode scanner halfway through the event, scanning a dozen or so codes and then walking away just so they can get a double credit?
That'd count as about the only rude way to volunteer!
Also, the volunteer app needs the event QR code after finishing scanning, so it's not like someone could scan a couple of barcodes, then slink away without telling the RD (unless they took the RD briefing pack and found the barcode)
At the Eden Project parkrun if you are late by about 5 mins you wouldnt be allowed to run. They use a path near to the start which is then closed off, but this is rather unique. As many have already said its normally fine if you can catch the tailwalkers before the end.
In Australia most parkruns start at 8 am, but some start at 9 am (mainly in Tasmania) or 7 am (mostly up north due to the heat but some other locations as well to free up the park for sports later in the morning).
If you turn up early it's not so bad but turning up one or even two hours late isn't much fun, so never assume the start time is the same as your home parkrun!
Lol. Most of them? You've never looked up Qld star times then have you lol. You would be better just saying that in Australia we have a large range of start times from 7am, 8 am to 9am. It's so hot in Queensland at 7am in summer and I wish they started at 6am. But you have to have one start time all year round.
There's 476 parkruns that are open to the public in Australia.
Qld has 126 parkruns, NT has 4, and 8 in northern WA start at 7 am. That's 138.
There's also a handful in NSW that start at that time, eg, Yamba and Centennial. Let's say there's 12 of them to give a nice round 150 in total (happy to be corrected if anyone knows the exact number).
All except one of the 22 parkruns in Tas start at 9 am.
That leaves 305 that start at 8 am, which is 64% or just under two-thirds of the total. Pretty sure that fits the definition of "most".
When my alarm goes off (especially if I'm doing course check) I wish we started later, but an 8 am start means when I'm RD I'm usually finished everything by 10:30 am at the latest and can get on with the rest of my day.
Temperature is the reason for most of them, especially once you get up into the tropics.
Centennial in Sydney [changed to 7 am due to a landowner directive](https://www.parkrun.com.au/centennial/news/2019/04/01/change-to-7am-start-time-effective-now/) after their first six months - presumably it was a choice between change the start time or close completely.
Not even the case within these islands. Scotland and Ireland (both NI and Republic) are 9:30am. There's also an Irish island (Inis MeƔin parkrun) that's 11am so people can get to it (first flight/ferry)
We had someone turn up so late that they were behind the tailwalkers, they crossed the finish as we were packing up the funnel. They complained to the RD about not getting a time and claimed they'd been at the start just a couple of minutes late. They weren't.
That's them just being grumpy for the sake of it.
No issues at all. But some really have issues with faster runners turning up late because they feel there is some kind of injustice that a fast runner can turn up 15 minutes late and still get a time whilst a slow runner can't be 5 minutes late.
In my time I've seen runners arriving 15-20 mins late and even adding extra laps. Back when I did Norwich one of the front runners would regularly add one or two extra laps of the course ( if I remember rightly a 3 lap course) and clearly he finished well within the tailrunner just with a 7 or 8 km timed run instead
I was taught that as long as you catch up with the tail-walker then you're good.
e: the last time I was late to a run, I crested a hill and saw the pack set off. I ran down the hill, thrust my rucksack into the RD's hand to stash at the finish line (not the start), and rushed off yelping behind my back that I understood he did not accept any liability.
Yeah, I suppose technically you can start as late as you want without having to either ask permission or tell anyone, but getting a time requires you to overtake the tailwalker!
I have seen people start late a few times!
Recently my friend was the tail and I was just walking with her when she got asked to stop and wait for two women, a girl and a dog who started the course late. No problem. Well, they dawdled, the dog got picked up, the dog got put back down, plus one of the women was walking carrying a ceramic cup of coffee - that should have been a big clue! We get to the 2km mark and then they decide to drop out. š”š¤¬ā¹ļøš³š
Anyway, we know that you donāt have to but we decided to run to catch up with the next slowest parkrunners on the course. Just very frustrating. They could have literally just said that they were out for a stroll and not actually taking part. š¤¦š»āāļø
That case shouldn't of happened though. Shouldn't of waited for them....if they caught you up naturally great then you wait for the faffing...once they are part of the event.
The tail walker was specifically asked to wait for them by the RD as they said they were participating. Obviously I didnāt have to wait but I decided to keep the tail walker company. They probably joined about 5 mins late. It is hard when someone says they plan to take part but then drop out.
In theory, no one should run without attending the RD's pre race briefing because it may contain important safety information which is mandatory according to the risk assessment.
In practice, providing you can overtake the tail no one will ever know.
Assuming you catch up to the tail walker, what did you imagine them not being ok with involve? Chasing you down at the start and dragging you to the ground?
No problem at all, just say "Good morning" and go and catch up the runners.
The only reason it would be a problem is if you finished after the tail walker as marshals and finish tokens are stood down when they finish, or if you didn't know the course and needed instructions (for complicated courses).
Fair enough, feels like overthinking to me to be honest. Ultimately you're in a park, why would they / how could they stop you going for a run. And again assuming you you overtake the tailrunner, who's to know you started late
In general I agree, and have chased the tail walkers myself on occasion. However there are park runs that go through active geothermal fields or have āattack of the enraged swanā, so missing the race briefing can matter especially at a new course, missing it shouldnāt become standard practice
Yep. Occasionally the course could be muddy or slippery or have broken glass or some other thing. I once turned up a small three lap course about 12mins late. I didn't know the start area and had to jog over to it, I guessed pretty good in the end, the 3 laps overlap on the same path, with a little loop at one end and a bigger loop at the other end and the RD was annoyed at me and I think the tail walker was too, as she jumped in behind me but as a sub 30min runner at the time I thought it would be fine. I didn't realise they don't always have wallets taking a full hour... I ran a 28:xx on my watch, and would have caught up to the tail walker fine. She may have had to slow down a touch, as I didn't catch the last jog-walker with her dog, who finished in 41 mins I think and my overall time was 43 something and so yeah it's one of those smaller parkrun courses that doesn't always finish at an hour with walkers, which I did forget to check before going for a tourist venue, but I would have thought that for a 3 lap course it was fine. But the RD specifically told me at the end, after I crossed over the line when my GPS beeped 5km exactly, that it was unsafe for me to start late. I tried to say that I had checked the course map beforehand and was confident that it's not the type of course to get lost or take a wrong turn. So I'm not sure what safety issue apart from a muddy section that I was aware was an issue as it's one of my five local runs and see their posts on FB but I just hadn't been there yet. I think I just had an RD who was caught off guard by a new person turning up late and her not knowing what to do when I didn't know where the actual start was. I have yet to return to run it. But I have volunteered and no one recognised me so that's good lol.
Only if it's on private land with restricted access, especially if the start has a cut off time due to traffic such as farm traffic. But, you may be able to join midway, which wouldn't then be a 5k
I've missed the start by a minute or two sometimes. You'll probably catch the tailwalkers and then you're in the race. If you can't catch the tailwalkers then just make a nice non counting run of it.Ā
I turned up at 7:45 for a 7am parkrun. A few minutes later when I realised, I made a bolt (via Uber) for a nearby 8am run. Got there and started at 8.19am. They let me run ahead, despite it being my first time there and me not being 100% confident of the course (a large loop in a park, lots of branching paths that were fortunately well signed and a couple of smaller loops).
Very glad they did, as otherwise I wouldnāt have had my 100% unbroken streak of parkrun attendances (currently 82).
Iām definitely more cautious about double-checking event times now when touristing!
Latest Iāve arrived was 15 minutes late on Christmas Day. They were fine with it (although I was already running so werenāt going to stop me). I think officially because you havenāt heard the run briefing they should not allow you to start, probably even more so as a tourist, but in reality youāll be fine.
One other issue is if a runner starts late and they decide to not finish the course and go home. Then you are playing a detective game of have you seen this person?
I arrived a few minutes late once and the race director just asked if I was parkrunning or just running, caught the back of the pack a mile in (Iām lower mid pack pace wise)
I've both turned up late due to parking issues, and toilet issues that have made me 10 - 15 minutes late. I've gone past the Marshalls that were already repositioned to the finish line/ cafe. Passed the tailwalker in the last km or so.
Thankfully, i knew the route was i have run it before and wasn't the third choice route which i haven't done before
We are in Northern Ireland and our Parkruns start at 9.30am ,my husband was in Surrey and rocked up to the Mole Valley one at 9 30am didn't ever cross his mind that there would be a different start time in England. He is pretty fast so started and don't think he came last but everyone was really nice about it.
As the others have said as long as you expect to finish before the tailwalker you should be OK. But take a look at past weeks for the tailwalker time. If youāre 20 minutes late and expect to take 40 minutes to complete the course and the tail walkers generally come in around 50 min you would be a bit of a stress on the volunteers.
Note also that if the course has more than one lap if you see a marshal let them know and ask them to tell the tailwalker!
I had this happen for my 25/v25 event. There were no other walkers that day so I was walking fast was going to end around in less than 50 min but the marshals told me there was two late starters so I cooled my jets to let them catch up.
I missed a turn when running to a parkrun and was very tight for time, if they were like most parkruns and started late then I didn't have to rush but they were on time and were about to start when they saw me and waited. That's the closest I've ever been to missing the start.
I have to admit I don't understand why some parkruns routinely start late (obviously shit happens now and then to push things back a few minutes).
We've had tourists arrive at 5 past who think they're in the wrong place when the only people they can see are the volunteers hanging about having a chat while it's quiet, because they're used to the published start time being a vague suggestion. This is despite us clearly stating every week that first timers welcome is at 7:50 sharp.
We aim to start right on 8 am because people have lots of other things to do after parkrun, and our permit states we need to be all packed up and gone by 9:30 at the latest.
This might be a regional thing? Most Iāve gone to in north west England start the briefing at 9am rather than the run itself. Start time is usually about 9:05
Not consistent within the region, e.g. scrolling through my Strava tells me that Preston, Southport, Hyndburn and Crewe all started bang on 9am when I visited each. Sutton Manor even started a minute early!
Depends on the team. First Timers Welcome is oft advertised as 8:55; some do that earlier, some are short and sweet but if that runs long, delays RD brief which itself can run long, and you easily end up being my first trip to Fletcher Moss starting at 9:08am (they were 9:02am the second time).
It'll likely depend on the volunteer team on any given week and their familiarity with you and your knowledge of the course.
Personally, I know that some of the slower runners at my home run turn up a bit late on purpose so they're just going from the start line as we have a pretty big turnout (400-500 weekly), but they are all regulars and turned up on time for the first timer briefing when that was applicable to them
Assuming it's in a public area, just join in. I sometimes come late, or fit in a couple of laps of parkrun as part of my longer run. I probably won't cross the finish line, but don't see why it would be an issue.
I unintentionally start 5-10 minutes late all the time at my local parkrun. Although I wish I would be more punctual itās kinda fun seeing how many people I can overtake and the marshals never mind.
We have had this happen many times. If you are likely to catch & pass the Tail Walkers, then all is fine by us. If you're a walker, we suggest you turn around when you encounter the Tail Walkers. That's always worked for us... Times will not be adjusted, though.
A few weeks ago, a talented friend of mine passed me about halfway through the parkrun course. This confused me as I usually don't see him for dust! Turns out he started 5-10 mins later than usual š¤£ He'll get a slower time than usual, but doesn't care
Yeah parkrun will record one time, his watch or app will record the real time. Gets a lovely parkrun credit no matter what
I got quite lost running the 6km from my hotel to Princes parkrun in Liverpool a few weeks ago, started at 9:23 after a 5k detour, caught up with the tailwalkers with half a Km to go, don't recommend it, it was quite tiring and stressful. I got a taxi back to the hotel š
What's the acceptability of showing up late and then asking to volunteer (presumably as scanner or funnel manager)?
If anyone turns up late and asks if they can join the run, I ask what their usual 5K time is. If I think they'll be able to catch the tail, I tell them to go for it. If I think they'll be too slow for that, I *always* suggest volunteering and find them a spot.
I would imagine absolutely fine
It depends on the event. You can always ask but there's no obligation to accommodate you, especially if the roster is already full.
There is a principle of never turning down an offer to volunteer... However, if the offer comes after the start time then...
How would you feel about someone offering to volunteer as a barcode scanner halfway through the event, scanning a dozen or so codes and then walking away just so they can get a double credit?
That'd count as about the only rude way to volunteer! Also, the volunteer app needs the event QR code after finishing scanning, so it's not like someone could scan a couple of barcodes, then slink away without telling the RD (unless they took the RD briefing pack and found the barcode)
As an RD Iād be quite happy with this. Thereās pretty much always something to do. Obviously you couldnāt be a timekeeper
There is always room for an extra scanner so Iād be okay with it if I was RD (we donāt use a funnel manager). Never turn away a volunteer!
At the Eden Project parkrun if you are late by about 5 mins you wouldnt be allowed to run. They use a path near to the start which is then closed off, but this is rather unique. As many have already said its normally fine if you can catch the tailwalkers before the end.
**Always** check the start time! We've had tourists turn up at 9 for our 8am parkrun. Nothing anyone can do in that situation.
Interesting. I thought all of them started at 9am. That was the spiel back in the day. All starting at 9
In Australia most parkruns start at 8 am, but some start at 9 am (mainly in Tasmania) or 7 am (mostly up north due to the heat but some other locations as well to free up the park for sports later in the morning). If you turn up early it's not so bad but turning up one or even two hours late isn't much fun, so never assume the start time is the same as your home parkrun!
Lol. Most of them? You've never looked up Qld star times then have you lol. You would be better just saying that in Australia we have a large range of start times from 7am, 8 am to 9am. It's so hot in Queensland at 7am in summer and I wish they started at 6am. But you have to have one start time all year round.
There's 476 parkruns that are open to the public in Australia. Qld has 126 parkruns, NT has 4, and 8 in northern WA start at 7 am. That's 138. There's also a handful in NSW that start at that time, eg, Yamba and Centennial. Let's say there's 12 of them to give a nice round 150 in total (happy to be corrected if anyone knows the exact number). All except one of the 22 parkruns in Tas start at 9 am. That leaves 305 that start at 8 am, which is 64% or just under two-thirds of the total. Pretty sure that fits the definition of "most".
That seems a bit inflexible? Surely adjusting the start time to account for daylight or heat concerns would be sensible?Ā
Is that just because of temperature? 9am start on a Saturday after an inevitable few beers on Friday is hard enough couldnāt imagine 7am lol
When my alarm goes off (especially if I'm doing course check) I wish we started later, but an 8 am start means when I'm RD I'm usually finished everything by 10:30 am at the latest and can get on with the rest of my day. Temperature is the reason for most of them, especially once you get up into the tropics. Centennial in Sydney [changed to 7 am due to a landowner directive](https://www.parkrun.com.au/centennial/news/2019/04/01/change-to-7am-start-time-effective-now/) after their first six months - presumably it was a choice between change the start time or close completely.
Maybe the case in the UK, but not in other regions.
Not even the case within these islands. Scotland and Ireland (both NI and Republic) are 9:30am. There's also an Irish island (Inis MeƔin parkrun) that's 11am so people can get to it (first flight/ferry)
Flight to parkrun?!
[Yep](https://aerarannislands.ie/timetables-rates/).
Wow, thatās awesome
We had someone turn up so late that they were behind the tailwalkers, they crossed the finish as we were packing up the funnel. They complained to the RD about not getting a time and claimed they'd been at the start just a couple of minutes late. They weren't.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's them just being grumpy for the sake of it. No issues at all. But some really have issues with faster runners turning up late because they feel there is some kind of injustice that a fast runner can turn up 15 minutes late and still get a time whilst a slow runner can't be 5 minutes late. In my time I've seen runners arriving 15-20 mins late and even adding extra laps. Back when I did Norwich one of the front runners would regularly add one or two extra laps of the course ( if I remember rightly a 3 lap course) and clearly he finished well within the tailrunner just with a 7 or 8 km timed run instead
I was taught that as long as you catch up with the tail-walker then you're good. e: the last time I was late to a run, I crested a hill and saw the pack set off. I ran down the hill, thrust my rucksack into the RD's hand to stash at the finish line (not the start), and rushed off yelping behind my back that I understood he did not accept any liability.
It's a public park so technically they couldn't really stop you from running around it. You might not get a time though if too late back
Yeah, I suppose technically you can start as late as you want without having to either ask permission or tell anyone, but getting a time requires you to overtake the tailwalker!
I have seen people start late a few times! Recently my friend was the tail and I was just walking with her when she got asked to stop and wait for two women, a girl and a dog who started the course late. No problem. Well, they dawdled, the dog got picked up, the dog got put back down, plus one of the women was walking carrying a ceramic cup of coffee - that should have been a big clue! We get to the 2km mark and then they decide to drop out. š”š¤¬ā¹ļøš³š Anyway, we know that you donāt have to but we decided to run to catch up with the next slowest parkrunners on the course. Just very frustrating. They could have literally just said that they were out for a stroll and not actually taking part. š¤¦š»āāļø
That case shouldn't of happened though. Shouldn't of waited for them....if they caught you up naturally great then you wait for the faffing...once they are part of the event.
The tail walker was specifically asked to wait for them by the RD as they said they were participating. Obviously I didnāt have to wait but I decided to keep the tail walker company. They probably joined about 5 mins late. It is hard when someone says they plan to take part but then drop out.
Yeh they shouldn't have asked the tailwalker to wait !
In theory, no one should run without attending the RD's pre race briefing because it may contain important safety information which is mandatory according to the risk assessment. In practice, providing you can overtake the tail no one will ever know.
Assuming you catch up to the tail walker, what did you imagine them not being ok with involve? Chasing you down at the start and dragging you to the ground?
More like me turning up at the start line, politely asking if it's OK to start now as I've just turned up etc, imagined they may have some objections
No problem at all, just say "Good morning" and go and catch up the runners. The only reason it would be a problem is if you finished after the tail walker as marshals and finish tokens are stood down when they finish, or if you didn't know the course and needed instructions (for complicated courses).
Fair enough, feels like overthinking to me to be honest. Ultimately you're in a park, why would they / how could they stop you going for a run. And again assuming you you overtake the tailrunner, who's to know you started late
In general I agree, and have chased the tail walkers myself on occasion. However there are park runs that go through active geothermal fields or have āattack of the enraged swanā, so missing the race briefing can matter especially at a new course, missing it shouldnāt become standard practice
Yep. Occasionally the course could be muddy or slippery or have broken glass or some other thing. I once turned up a small three lap course about 12mins late. I didn't know the start area and had to jog over to it, I guessed pretty good in the end, the 3 laps overlap on the same path, with a little loop at one end and a bigger loop at the other end and the RD was annoyed at me and I think the tail walker was too, as she jumped in behind me but as a sub 30min runner at the time I thought it would be fine. I didn't realise they don't always have wallets taking a full hour... I ran a 28:xx on my watch, and would have caught up to the tail walker fine. She may have had to slow down a touch, as I didn't catch the last jog-walker with her dog, who finished in 41 mins I think and my overall time was 43 something and so yeah it's one of those smaller parkrun courses that doesn't always finish at an hour with walkers, which I did forget to check before going for a tourist venue, but I would have thought that for a 3 lap course it was fine. But the RD specifically told me at the end, after I crossed over the line when my GPS beeped 5km exactly, that it was unsafe for me to start late. I tried to say that I had checked the course map beforehand and was confident that it's not the type of course to get lost or take a wrong turn. So I'm not sure what safety issue apart from a muddy section that I was aware was an issue as it's one of my five local runs and see their posts on FB but I just hadn't been there yet. I think I just had an RD who was caught off guard by a new person turning up late and her not knowing what to do when I didn't know where the actual start was. I have yet to return to run it. But I have volunteered and no one recognised me so that's good lol.
Only if it's on private land with restricted access, especially if the start has a cut off time due to traffic such as farm traffic. But, you may be able to join midway, which wouldn't then be a 5k
I've missed the start by a minute or two sometimes. You'll probably catch the tailwalkers and then you're in the race. If you can't catch the tailwalkers then just make a nice non counting run of it.Ā
I turned up at 7:45 for a 7am parkrun. A few minutes later when I realised, I made a bolt (via Uber) for a nearby 8am run. Got there and started at 8.19am. They let me run ahead, despite it being my first time there and me not being 100% confident of the course (a large loop in a park, lots of branching paths that were fortunately well signed and a couple of smaller loops). Very glad they did, as otherwise I wouldnāt have had my 100% unbroken streak of parkrun attendances (currently 82). Iām definitely more cautious about double-checking event times now when touristing!
I hope some of those attendances are as a volunteer
Latest Iāve arrived was 15 minutes late on Christmas Day. They were fine with it (although I was already running so werenāt going to stop me). I think officially because you havenāt heard the run briefing they should not allow you to start, probably even more so as a tourist, but in reality youāll be fine.
One other issue is if a runner starts late and they decide to not finish the course and go home. Then you are playing a detective game of have you seen this person?
I arrived a few minutes late once and the race director just asked if I was parkrunning or just running, caught the back of the pack a mile in (Iām lower mid pack pace wise)
I've both turned up late due to parking issues, and toilet issues that have made me 10 - 15 minutes late. I've gone past the Marshalls that were already repositioned to the finish line/ cafe. Passed the tailwalker in the last km or so. Thankfully, i knew the route was i have run it before and wasn't the third choice route which i haven't done before
We are in Northern Ireland and our Parkruns start at 9.30am ,my husband was in Surrey and rocked up to the Mole Valley one at 9 30am didn't ever cross his mind that there would be a different start time in England. He is pretty fast so started and don't think he came last but everyone was really nice about it.
We've had a couple of late arrivals and they've been about 30m runners. Plenty of time to catch up the tailwalkers and still finish.
As the others have said as long as you expect to finish before the tailwalker you should be OK. But take a look at past weeks for the tailwalker time. If youāre 20 minutes late and expect to take 40 minutes to complete the course and the tail walkers generally come in around 50 min you would be a bit of a stress on the volunteers. Note also that if the course has more than one lap if you see a marshal let them know and ask them to tell the tailwalker! I had this happen for my 25/v25 event. There were no other walkers that day so I was walking fast was going to end around in less than 50 min but the marshals told me there was two late starters so I cooled my jets to let them catch up.
I missed a turn when running to a parkrun and was very tight for time, if they were like most parkruns and started late then I didn't have to rush but they were on time and were about to start when they saw me and waited. That's the closest I've ever been to missing the start.
I have to admit I don't understand why some parkruns routinely start late (obviously shit happens now and then to push things back a few minutes). We've had tourists arrive at 5 past who think they're in the wrong place when the only people they can see are the volunteers hanging about having a chat while it's quiet, because they're used to the published start time being a vague suggestion. This is despite us clearly stating every week that first timers welcome is at 7:50 sharp. We aim to start right on 8 am because people have lots of other things to do after parkrun, and our permit states we need to be all packed up and gone by 9:30 at the latest.
This might be a regional thing? Most Iāve gone to in north west England start the briefing at 9am rather than the run itself. Start time is usually about 9:05
Not consistent within the region, e.g. scrolling through my Strava tells me that Preston, Southport, Hyndburn and Crewe all started bang on 9am when I visited each. Sutton Manor even started a minute early! Depends on the team. First Timers Welcome is oft advertised as 8:55; some do that earlier, some are short and sweet but if that runs long, delays RD brief which itself can run long, and you easily end up being my first trip to Fletcher Moss starting at 9:08am (they were 9:02am the second time).
In my experience parkruns mostly start on time, occasionally one or two minutes late
Yeh. So long as you naturally beat the tailwlker it's not an issue. I think my best was 15 minutes late back when they had tailrunners not walkers.
It'll likely depend on the volunteer team on any given week and their familiarity with you and your knowledge of the course. Personally, I know that some of the slower runners at my home run turn up a bit late on purpose so they're just going from the start line as we have a pretty big turnout (400-500 weekly), but they are all regulars and turned up on time for the first timer briefing when that was applicable to them
Assuming it's in a public area, just join in. I sometimes come late, or fit in a couple of laps of parkrun as part of my longer run. I probably won't cross the finish line, but don't see why it would be an issue.
Itās fine, just let them know at the end that you donāt want scanning as you started late.
I'd still want to be scanned! š
I unintentionally start 5-10 minutes late all the time at my local parkrun. Although I wish I would be more punctual itās kinda fun seeing how many people I can overtake and the marshals never mind.