diff --git a/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh b/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
index 048f62a..db00ea3 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
@@ -88,18 +88,28 @@ checks_state() { # rollup JSON on stdin → SUCCESS | FAILURE | PENDING | NONE
     # pick the very run it superseded — reporting the old SUCCESS while a
     # replacement was still running, which is #136 again.
     #
-    # So: take the newest timestamp a run actually carries, discarding both
-    # spellings of absent (null, and the zero sentinel). An entry that carries
-    # no usable timestamp at all sorts LAST rather than first — something we
-    # cannot date is most likely the thing just created, and treating it as
-    # newest keeps an undateable in-flight run from being discarded in favour
-    # of a stale success. Every ambiguity here resolves toward "not settled".
+    # So: date a run by when it BEGAN, discarding both spellings of absent
+    # (null, and the zero sentinel) and falling back only if it never recorded
+    # a beginning. NOT by the newest stamp of any kind: `max` compares the
+    # completion of a finished run against the start of a live one, which are
+    # different quantities and not an ordering on runs. A run cancelled by the
+    # concurrency group does not stop the instant its replacement starts — the
+    # runner has to wind down — so predecessor.completedAt > successor.startedAt
+    # is the ordinary case, and `max` dated the dead predecessor newer than the
+    # live run that replaced it, narrowing both failures above without closing
+    # them. The list is already in preference order, so `first` IS that rule.
+    #
+    # An entry that carries no usable timestamp at all sorts LAST rather than
+    # first — something we cannot date is most likely the thing just created,
+    # and treating it as newest keeps an undateable in-flight run from being
+    # discarded in favour of a stale success. Every ambiguity resolves toward
+    # "not settled".
     | [ (.statusCheckRollup // [])[]
         | { ctx: [.workflowName // "", .name // .context // ""],
             at:  ([.startedAt, .createdAt, .completedAt]
                   | map(select(type == "string" and . != ""
                                and (startswith("0001-01-01") | not)))
-                  | max // ""),
+                  | first // ""),
             outcome: ((.conclusion // .state // "") | ascii_upcase) } ]
     | group_by(.ctx)
     | map(sort_by([(.at == ""), .at]) | last | .outcome) as $latest
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f2654c5..0679af6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -103,16 +103,25 @@ which records not just what changed but what each drill run proved.
   context collapsing to its newest entry: a re-run does not evict the run it
   replaced, so this PR's own tip carried a `CANCELLED` `scope` beside the
   `SUCCESS` `scope` that superseded it, and judging every entry would have
-  stranded every re-run PR in `needs-rebase`. Which entry is newest is decided
-  on the newest timestamp a run actually carries, because a run still in flight
-  does not omit its completion — `gh` marshals the Go zero time as the *string*
-  `"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"`, which `//` will not fall through. Dating on
-  completion therefore sorted the live re-run to the bottom and picked the run
-  it superseded, reporting the old `SUCCESS` while a replacement was still
-  running: #136 restored, by the very rule meant to close it. An entry carrying
-  no usable timestamp sorts last rather than first, so an undateable in-flight
-  run is never discarded in favour of a stale success — every ambiguity here
-  resolves toward "not settled".
+  stranded every re-run PR in `needs-rebase`.
+
+  A run is dated by **when it began**, which took two corrections to get right
+  and both restored #136 in the meantime. Dating on completion fails because a
+  run still in flight does not omit its completion — `gh` marshals the Go zero
+  time as the *string* `"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"`, which `//` will not fall
+  through — so the live re-run sorted to the bottom and the run it superseded
+  was judged instead. Taking the *newest* stamp a run carries fails for a
+  subtler reason: it resolves to `completedAt` for a finished run and
+  `startedAt` for a live one, which are different quantities, so it never
+  ordered runs at all. A run cancelled by the concurrency group drains *after*
+  its replacement starts — 13 seconds on this PR's own `aa5a6ba` — so the dead
+  predecessor routinely out-dated the live run replacing it, and a green
+  predecessor in that window read `SUCCESS` with a re-run still in flight.
+  Start time has neither failure: a replacement always begins after the run it
+  replaces, whatever order they finish in. An entry carrying no usable stamp
+  sorts last rather than first, so an undateable in-flight run is never
+  discarded in favour of a stale success — every ambiguity resolves toward
+  "not settled".
 
   `UNKNOWN` mergeability is deliberately not treated as unmergeable: GitHub
   reports it for about a minute after every merge while it recomputes, and
@@ -128,8 +137,9 @@ which records not just what changed but what each drill run proved.
   shapes, the mixed round, the whole check-outcome enum, and the in-flight
   re-run superseding both a green and a cancelled predecessor — in both
   directions, since a run that *finished* after an earlier in-flight entry
-  settles the context — are pinned in `test/labels-reconcile.sh`
-  (19 fixtures → 49).
+  settles the context, and across the drain window where the predecessor
+  completes last — are pinned in `test/labels-reconcile.sh`
+  (19 fixtures → 51).
 
 - **CI's shellcheck sweep never lints `.github/scripts/*.sh`** (#116) —
   `globstar` makes `**` descend into subdirectories, but a glob still does
diff --git a/test/labels-reconcile.sh b/test/labels-reconcile.sh
index 7a532ed..b68de99 100644
--- a/test/labels-reconcile.sh
+++ b/test/labels-reconcile.sh
@@ -291,6 +291,25 @@ expect "a finished re-run supersedes an earlier in-flight run" SUCCESS \
   "$(rollup "[$(inflight_ build 2026-07-20T15:19:00Z),\
               $(run_ build SUCCESS 2026-07-20T15:19:45Z)]" | checks_state)"
 
+# -- the wind-down window. A predecessor cancelled by the concurrency group
+#    does not stop the instant its replacement starts, so its completion
+#    routinely lands AFTER the successor's start — on box's aa5a6ba the
+#    replacement started 15:19:38 and the run it cancelled finished 15:19:51.
+#    Dating by "newest stamp of any kind" compares the dead run's completion
+#    against the live run's start, which is not an ordering on runs, and the
+#    predecessor wins. Every fixture above spaces completion before start, so
+#    none of them can see it. run_() cannot express the overlap either — it
+#    carries no startedAt — hence the explicit payloads.
+overlap_() { jq -n --arg n "$1" --arg o "$2" --arg s "$3" --arg c "$4" \
+  '{__typename:"CheckRun", workflowName:"ci", name:$n, conclusion:$o,
+    startedAt:$s, completedAt:$c}'; }
+expect "a predecessor finishing after its replacement started is still older (CANCELLED)" PENDING \
+  "$(rollup "[$(overlap_ scope CANCELLED 2026-07-20T15:19:00Z 2026-07-20T15:19:51Z),\
+              $(inflight_ scope 2026-07-20T15:19:38Z)]" | checks_state)"
+expect "...and the same when it finished green — mid-flight is not mergeable" PENDING \
+  "$(rollup "[$(overlap_ build SUCCESS 2026-07-20T15:19:00Z 2026-07-20T15:19:51Z),\
+              $(inflight_ build 2026-07-20T15:19:38Z)]" | checks_state)"
+
 # -- the classifier feeds the state machine: a cancelled required check must
 #    take the PR off the human's plate, which is the whole point of #136.
 DRAFT=false HEAD_SHA=head1 REQUESTED="$HUMAN" REVIEWS_JSON="$ALL_APPROVE" MERGEABLE=MERGEABLE