The app our run club runs on

The problem

The club organised everything through a group chat. Nobody knew who would actually turn up, newcomers had to find strangers at the meeting point, and the photos and route details were lost under hundreds of messages.

My approach

• The app records one thing: the check-in at the meeting point. No pace, no route, no time, so the only way to move up a level is to keep coming.
• “Said they were coming” and “turned up” are kept as separate numbers. The first tells the organisers how much water to buy; the second is the attendance.
• Each part of the week has its own screen: photos on Monday, the where and when midweek, check-in on the day.
• The organisers’ list marks first-timers by name, so someone goes over to say hello.

Build

• Astro site with a signed-in app at /app, Google sign-in, Firebase for auth and data.
• Organiser tools to publish each run, its photos and the check-in list from a phone.

Result

Live since 21 September 2026. 50 runners signed up in its first two weeks, and the organisers now run every Sunday from it.

What I took from it

• Tracking one thing nobody can fake, turning up, was enough.
• Most of the design went into the first visit, because that is when a newcomer decides whether to come back.