diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index 80f8a6141..4958bd12d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ jobs:
           components: rustfmt, clippy
       - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
       - run: cargo fmt --all -- --check
-      - run: cargo check --locked --manifest-path quinn/Cargo.toml --all-targets --no-default-features
+      - run: cargo check --locked --manifest-path quinn/Cargo.toml --all-targets --no-default-features --features runtime-tokio
       - run: cargo clippy --locked --all-targets -- -D warnings
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
         with:
diff --git a/quinn/Cargo.toml b/quinn/Cargo.toml
index 42a3d4917..a2a2431df 100644
--- a/quinn/Cargo.toml
+++ b/quinn/Cargo.toml
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ rustls-ring = ["dep:rustls", "ring", "proto/rustls-ring", "proto/ring"]
 ring = ["proto/ring"]
 runtime-tokio = ["tokio/time", "tokio/rt", "tokio/net"]
 runtime-smol = ["dep:async-io", "dep:smol"]
-
+# Allow users to declare a custom runtimne
+custom-runtime = []
 # Configure `tracing` to log events via `log` if no `tracing` subscriber exists.
 tracing-log = ["tracing/log", "proto/tracing-log", "udp/tracing-log"]
 # Enable rustls logging
diff --git a/quinn/src/runtime/mod.rs b/quinn/src/runtime/mod.rs
index 15a7a1112..b4a7fb572 100644
--- a/quinn/src/runtime/mod.rs
+++ b/quinn/src/runtime/mod.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ use udp::{RecvMeta, Transmit};
 
 use crate::Instant;
 
+#[cfg(not(any(feature = "runtime-tokio", feature = "runtime-smol", feature = "custom-runtime")))]
+compile_error!("no async runtime found. Please enable a runtime feature such as runtime-tokio, runtime-smol or custom-runtime");
+
 /// Abstracts I/O and timer operations for runtime independence
 pub trait Runtime: Send + Sync + Debug + 'static {
     /// Construct a timer that will expire at `i`