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May 2021
9:21am, 13 May 2021
14,296 posts
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larkim
Deegee, I suspect the fear is that whilst most people do have a reasonable easily scannable physical barcode (despite the exceptions that you rightly point out), phones would be pretty rapidly adopted by most people given the chance so the delay risk is magnified. They need to trial it though in the winter in a few decent sized events to get some evidence of the real impact.
The push to get ICE details available is unarguably sensible, as a general rule most of us could probably do with making something like that pretty available most of the time; we use the parkrun barcodes on our kids wrists when we go on holiday for example just so that they've got the info in case they get into difficulty somewhere where they are unfamiliar with the locality.
If some scanners say "well done Tarquin" on seeing the barcode names, that is a nice thing to do; though no reason why an official barcode "app" on the phone couldn't have that displayed too.
On balance it seems to me that the queue delay risk vs soggy / unreadable physical barcodes would still tend towards preferring the soggy / unreadable solution until scanning screens on the phones becomes really quick for everyone to use. We're all used to using QR codes for tickets and stuff these days, but the rapidity of getting through a queue at a museum or a leisure event is a bit different to clearing a queue of soggy, panting runners coming through the funnels between 23 and 27 minutes after the start of a parkrun.
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May 2021
9:22am, 13 May 2021
21,077 posts
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Rosehip
I have no idea about insurance, and there's obviously an issue I don't know about - could be volunteers/permission for venue use landowners permission?
Which is interesting given the parkrun debate going on here.
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May 2021
9:23am, 13 May 2021
968 posts
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Spideog
There has never been a requirement to purchase a parkrun branded barcode, and it took a while of other companies producing the printed tags and wristbands before parkrun brought it in house. They still have a PDF image that is generated on their website to print out with barcodes on, it's not a money making reason that they are saying printed barcodes rather than phone based ones.
The historical reason for having had that policy initially may have changed. It is a bit of a block for people without printers, but chatting to someone in the school queue this morning about juniors which they didn't know about before, and without a printer, but they have sorted the printer issue and no indication of them thinking "why can't we just use the phone instead".
The phone thing will change in time.
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May 2021
9:35am, 13 May 2021
20,767 posts
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DeeGee
I'd argue that more people now have access to a smartphone than access to a printer. It is not longer a "people of means" thing.
Many of the poorest members in our community have a cheap smartphone as their main contact method, means to get online (to fill in DWP forms or to do their jobsearch) and method of being entertained, as it's far cheaper to have one device on PAYG than to buy/rent a landline, computer and TV, and pay for phone service, broadband and a TV licence. Especially as they still have to do their online jobsearch despite the libraries being closed and with the ubiquity of free wi-fi hotspots all over the place.
If you stick the barcode in the app, along with a personal results lookup or some of the cow-mason challenges, then you'll also have a better take-up of the app. Because it's still acceptable for non-ownership of a smart phone to be an obstacle to volunteering, isn't it?
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May 2021
9:45am, 13 May 2021
969 posts
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Spideog
Think they would need to figure out how people are to actually present their barcodes on the phones first. What are the people who present phones doing at the moment? Is it pictures of printed cods, zooming in on the PDF that parkrun generates, they generate an image themselves.
If parkrun are to accept barcodes on phones then they need to provide them in an easy to use and access way, which they don't yet. Should they develop a whole new app for runners in addition to the volunteer app?
We can figure out loads of ways to get the barcodes on our phones, or even Garmins etc, but for it to be a parkrun thing they need to make it simple for all users... And it's not a small task. At the moment it's easier for parkrun to just say "print this out".
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May 2021
9:49am, 13 May 2021
198 posts
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fuzzyduck79
The only sensible argument for insisting on printed barcodes is the potential delay if people can't get theirs up on their phone.
That could be noticeable if all runners switched at once, but I suspect most would carry on doing it as they had before initially, and the change would be more gradual, and some would never switch over. People would get more adept at accessing it on their mobile too (could even have it at bottom of your lock screen?)
I paid for some key fob plastic barcodes after forgetting/losing mine a couple of times, but the ink comes off in a matter of weeks for me. Just checked my running keys and the current token I have would not work for scanning, and name/ICE details are unreadable - if I don't bother replacing that then I will lose my next parkrun result.
I didn't used to have a phone on me while running, but I do every time now (started using a flipbelt during lockdown, can listen to music and am available if my wife needs me in an emergency)
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May 2021
9:51am, 13 May 2021
214 posts
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option_Richard
An app would be the easiest way, as file management on iOS/android is awful.
An app would allow push notifications, so would do a better job with cancellations & other changes.
It would also mean parkrun are less reliant on people keeping FB & twitter up to date, & on people following their parkruns on them.
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May 2021
9:52am, 13 May 2021
14,299 posts
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larkim
I'm tech savvy, I've got a mid-range phone but I clutter it up with stuff I like and clever things that sometimes slow the phone down. It can take 10s to unlock, sometimes doesn't respond, doesn't like water on the screen, fails to recognise my fingerprint or face, has a tendency to fire up the camera if I forget that a double press is camera rather than single press to unlock the screen etc. I couldn't guarantee having any app or image up and ready by the time I get to the scanners. It's not a wealth divide thing, it's a usability thing.
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May 2021
9:52am, 13 May 2021
49,410 posts
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McGoohan
This trial event 5K thing I'm doing on Saturday - we have been pretty much told to run around with our phones as we will be QRed and scanned and Track n Traced etc at every conceivable opportunity. I always run with my phone nowadays.
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May 2021
10:04am, 13 May 2021
6,808 posts
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The_Saint
For me running with a phone is like running holding a water bottle or with headphones in. From there it is only a small step to pinning my race number on the back and insisting that I start with the elites because I paid the same as them.
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Let's talk about inaugural parkruns after they've happened.
Jan 2025