WIth parkrun starting up again after such a long break there are a lot of runners considering taking part in this wonderful, life affirming celebration of running. This FAQ Post was written to answer many questions about parkrun and may be worth reading before you take part. healthunlocked.com/couchto5....
Have fun.
I have a slightly technical question about Parkruns - having just this morning done my 2nd PR (it was my main motivation for getting to the end of C25K through lockdown). My local PR starts on a fairly narrow path - so a long column of people stretching back from the start line. Obviously, this crowd takes a few minutes to get moving - and to get over the start line. I also use an Apple Watch to time myself and load my run to Strava. My question is, at what point should I start my Strava timer - when the horn goes off - or the point at which I cross the start line? Because there's often a good half-a-minute between those points. It's not hugely important - but I'm just trying to make sense of how my timing compares with my official PR timing.
The 5k is measured from start line to finish line.
The official parkrun timing will be from when the horn blows to when you cross the finish line. So potentially longer than your actual 5k time.
I thought you wanted to know when to start timing your 5k run.........start to finish line is 5k.
Correct. And the official PR time is likely to be longer than the true 5K time because PR times from the start signal not from when an individual crosses the start line. For people like me who walk round the difference is not important but I guess it is for competitive runners.
As I said, if you are recording your own time, as opposed to the official parkrun time, start timing as you cross the lines.
Parkrun video (and health warning)
To parkrun or not....
First parkrun in 4 years!!!!
Parkrun in Montreal starting next Saturday!
Almorr - 50th Parkrun 
