PopRun

The problem

When a running crew wants to put on a small race for twenty or sixty people, there is no good tool for it. Big race platforms are far too heavy, and a Google Form plus a group chat falls apart on race morning. Sign-ups, bibs, check-in, times and results all live in different places.

The calls

• Runners never make an account. The link they get when they sign up is their ID, and it holds their digital bib and QR code. On the day, they just show their phone.
• Four fields open a race. Name, date and time, place, capacity. Everything else can come later.
• The course comes first. It is designed for one hand, direct sunlight and a flaky connection: high contrast, big numbers, scan feedback within a second, and result entry that queues offline.
• Permissions belong to a race. An organiser of race A is just a visitor at race B, and the database (Row Level Security) enforces that, not the app code.
• No payments. Entry fees stay between organiser and runner. With no settlement or refunds to own, anyone can host without worry.

Where it stands

Live at poprun.me. Opening a race, the sign-up link, digital bibs, QR check-in, a live leaderboard and finisher certificates all happen on one site. It recently gained a running passport, where runners who choose to sign in can collect their results across races. It works in Korean and English and is free for now.