Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

All you need to know and discuss about the 2009 Zone 1 Challenge.
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Garion
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

Right well:

1) It was a weekend and the Dictrict and Circle lines were closed.
2) I was meeting my girlfriend and I should have met her around half past but was still trying to get to her so I didnt bother waiting. I'm prepared to spend a little bit more to see my girlfriend :)
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by mps247 »

Sorry Garion, I misread your post - I was under the impression that you were meeting your girlfriend before the zone 1 challenge.
garion24wales wrote:2) I was meeting my girlfriend and I should have met her around half past but was still trying to get to her so I didnt bother waiting. I'm prepared to spend a little bit more to see my girlfriend :)
Probably why I am single :lol:
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Starkey7 »

So Tangy you weren't tempted to accidentally fall over in the doors for seventeen seconds at Russell Square?
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

scrxisi wrote:It's off-peak all day on a weekend anyway isn;t it, so wouldn't have been an issue :)
Oh yeah, I forgot :)
Starkey7 wrote:So Tangy you weren't tempted to accidentally fall over in the doors for seventeen seconds at Russell Square?
And me and Andi were going to pin him down so the train could go and let us win :lol:
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

Me and Andi were talking about the Zone 1 challenge and future attempts at the GWR. We were joined by a few others and pretty soon, were all asking eachother why wasn't the pub open?

After finding out that the pub opened at 12, Andi and I decided to walk to Oxford Circus station. On the way, we talked about team names. After meeting up at Oxford Circus, we waited for the starting station to be announced and after it turned out to be Angel, we all made our way to the Northern Line station

We started just after 1pm. At Moorgate, we watched as loads of people alighted the train and ran off down some corridor. Me and Andi stayed on until Bank where we ran to the Central Line platforms. After a 1 min wait there, we were on our way. Andi briefed me on the Chancery Lane - Farringdon run. Was longer than he made out to be and despite his claims, was not down hill ALL the way. But at least we made it with time to spare. We got an Eastbound H&C train and we found out that there was a Circle Line train 3 minutes behind us. Knowing this, we only had 3 minutes to change at Aldgate/Aldgate East. We ran to Aldgate and waited like 30 seconds for our train.

We jumped on the Circle line train and went to Sloane Square. There was another train already on the Eastbound platform but departed by the time Andi reached the down escalator. A 2 minute wait followed and we went to Victoria. At Victoria, I had the better door and I ran out of the train and down the steps and escalator to the Victoria Line. The second time for me that day. We went down to Vauxhall and got the mainline train into Waterloo.

This didnt turn out good for us as the train was routed into platform 14. We had to run through the mainline station to the Jubliee Line entrance of the Underground. We made the train that was standing there on the eastbound platform. We went to London Bridge where a quick change took us to the Northern Line and down to Elephant and Castle.

Our luck continued as there was a Bakerloo train waiting to depart and departed just after we boarded it. At Waterloo, we changed onto the Northern Line and went up to Euston. Tangy who had joined us some time before was going to try and double back but me and Andi ran to Euston Square. After losing eachother for a minute or two, we found eachother and arrived at Euston Square to the sight of Hakan and Co running out of the station. Tangy also caught up with us while we were waiting for the train and followed us.

We took the H&C line to Paddington and ran to the Bakerloo Line platforms. Andi held the train for me as I was running down the escalator. We went south to Oxford Circus and were pleased when we saw a Central Line train just pulling into the station. We got on it and went to Queensway. At Queensway, after stating that I would not run up the stairs, we ran to Bayswater which turned out to be my favourite run of the day. Also it was the easiest for me. Dont know why lol.

At Bayswater, we got a District Line train to Earls Court where we were planning to use Starkey's Stairs to take us to the Piccadilly Line. I was at the back of the group and when we realised that the stairs were closed, I did a quick u-turn and then we ran to the Piccadilly Line. This was fun as I was in front of everyone else at that point and made it to the Piccadilly Line first. An unusual thing for me :P

After a 2 minute wait, we got the Piccadilly Line north to our finishing station, Kings Cross. On the way, I calculated that we would have a sub 3-hour time. Tangy revealed to us that his finishing station was Kings Cross. He also revealed to us that his total time was near ours. We realised that to beat Tangy, we had to go from Russell Square to Kings Cros in under 2 minutes 25 seconds. Tangy joked that he would hold the doors open but me and Andi said we'd pin him down on the other side of the train...

Russell Square arrived and Tangy stopped his watch. Now all me and Andi had to do was to get to Kings Cross in under 2:25. We did and we all piled out of the train, celebrating. Andi sliding on his back with his arms and legs in the air and I was cheering like Cardiff had won the FA Cup (1927...good memories).

With the challenge over, all that was left was for us to go to the pub. We went to Great Portland Street and me and Andi arrived at the pub (we lost Tangy somewhere on the surface lol). As we entered the pub, we were greeted by the sight of Sam, Matt, Neil and an empty room. "This must be good" I thought to myself. After waiting for everyone else to arrive and clearing the bar out of crisps, we had the results.

It turned out that we were first and despite numerous shouts of "FIXED!", we collected our certificates and trophy. We then had the quiz which I was awful at. That was followed by the rounds of darts which turned out to be fun. I left the pub at around 22:20 and got my second proper meal of the day. A Big Mac meal :). I went down to the Victoria Line at Oxford Circus and sat on the platform and ate my food. After watching three trains pass and observing all sorts of life passing me, I went on the train and went to Victoria. At Victoria, I walked to the Coach station and waited for my coach to take me back home. I got on the coach and went straight to the back seat. After we left Victoria, I stretched out on the empty back seat and went to sleep following my busy day in London.

The next day I showed my trophy to my collegues in Co-Op and also my family. They all asked me when my next challenge is. I replied with a "Dont know".



Overall, I had a good day. Was fun and I enjoyed meeting new people. Even the almighty and powerful overseer of this forum :lol: Some of my favourite bits of the day were trying to distract Andi from the many women around us and the unusual good luck with our changes. The bit I hated the most was when I pulled a muscle during the first run which had a slight effect on the rest of the runs. But despite my speed, we did not finish 10th (Matt :wink: ). I'm looking forward to Zone One next year and hoping to retain my trophy :P. Well done to everyone who took part and hope to see you all soon. All thats left for me to do now is to plan next year's event...
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

Yeah I agree. Also I liked the Aldgate East - Aldgate Run too :)

And you never know what could happen my friend :) I've been suprised by many things myself.

If Sam was tempted to go shopping, give her £100 and send her to Harrods. You wont have many bags to carry then :lol: :)

Question for everyone...is Zone 1 normally on the last Friday in May? :?
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Sam »

garion24wales wrote:If Sam was tempted to go shopping, give her £100 and send her to Harrods. You wont have many bags to carry then :lol: :)
Oh come on, I was on Oxford Street opposite Topshop, why would I need to go to Harrods!!! :lol:
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

Good point :)
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by dudey »

garion24wales wrote: Question for everyone...is Zone 1 normally on the last Friday in May? :?
For the past 2 years at least it has been timed to be the Friday during the school summer half term. However a quick check brings up that next year this would be Friday 4th June (spring bank holiday is Monday 31st May). Obviously it doesn't bother me, but i know having during half term allows many people to attend who wouldn't otherwise. How will people feel about Z1 suddenly being in June?
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Garion »

True but if it is in the same week as the bank holiday so more people can go to it, then fair enough. Personally I dont mind when it is. Perhaps a vote is needed....
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Starkey7 wrote:So Tangy you weren't tempted to accidentally fall over in the doors for seventeen seconds at Russell Square?
i would have pushed him out of the train
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by tpfkar »

Just a quick run-through of our day. But I should start by thanking the organisers and competitors for putting a good day on - people like me who have some idea what we are doing won't notice so much, but Martina had a very enjoyable first challenge, and felt part of what was going on, so good job by Andi & co.

Anyway, we'd agreed a couple of weeks earlier to hook up with David Scard again, and came up with an A-plan and a B-plan depending on whether we got a good run at the H & C line. We plotted at Burger King before we started, and mentioned that we'd never have gone to BK before as we were far too serious!

First connection down to Moorgate with a large crowd, and we promptly switched to Plan B as the first train was the Hammersmith one. We ran across Paddington with several teams, and I was worried that we all had the same route, so tried something deliberately unconventional to get away from them, which, um, worked.

We got out of the Bakerloo at Regents' Park, ran past Great Portland st to Warren St, then Northen up to Euston and down to Goodge St. First big run to Russell Square, where we made a mess of it due to poor team communication; I was running along, followed by Martina, followed by David, and I got to the platform with a minute to go, but I had to let the train go as the others didn't make it. It turned out that David couldn't find the station as he had lost sight of Martina on the run, but we only lost three minutes or so - given where we finished it could have made all the difference though.

The next section was easier - down to Elephant and up via London Bridge, one of our better connections at Elephant, but an unfortunate 3 minute wait at the latter, before a change at Green Park took us to large run # 2, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square. We set off in the same order, as we just missed a bus. However after stopping with Martina to wait for David, we realised that he had got a later bus, so started running again as we were nowhere near the bus stop. As we ran into Sloane Square, the bus overtook us, and I dodged through the traffic (and lots of pedestrians, both the square and the station where packed which didn't help.)to get to the station, and there was a train just coming in. I shouted up the stairs for them to run, and as the train came into the platform, martina ran down the stairs. I thought that David was ahead of us, but I couldn't see him, so I asked Martina to hold the doors, and ran back and shouted up the stairs. No response. We had to make the decision and got on the train. However the train stood in platform for 10 secons after the doors closed, just enough for David to run onto the platform and for us to see each other and bang on the doors in frustration.

I figured that he would catch us up at Earls Cout as we needed a Wimbleware train, but I had terrible reception and low battery, so we only managed to exchange texts. However when we got there, the train we needed was in platform, and it was always going to depart before the next district came in. Time for a very difficult decision, but we felt we should continue and hold doors if it was possible for david to catch us up. We saw him on the train coming in to Earls Court as we were coming out, and had a dificult phone call when we finally managed to get through, saying that he should try and catch us up.

However the last hour we had perfect connections for, and he never had a chance. To Queensway, change at Liverpool Strreet, get confused by the new station location at Aldgat Easte, to Victoria, then down to Vauxhall for a 2:53:25 finish for team Vorspung Durch Technik. We waitedfor 20 minutes with drinks for David, but only saw some Swedes (not sure if they realised we had been waiting rather than just finishing oursleves.) but we eventually thought we must have missed him and headed off to the pub.

In fact, he had lost almost 30 mins on us, just because of missing one train at Sloane Square. I guess that's the butterfly effect, tube version.

Gutted to only be 30 seconds behind the winners, bit our team communication was clearly a bit of a mess, so we probably didn't deserve to win, and David took the mistake with great grace to his credit. Good to see friends again - you might even tempt us back next year.
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Pictures are being developed as we speak by asda in bournemouth will get tomorrow i probably have to put them on my website as i can never figure out how to put them on here Mr tubeguru makes it too hard.
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by Starkey7 »

Hmmm Andi I don't think that it's a case of his deliberately making it hard. As far as I see it, this is a forum, not a picture hoster, and probably doesn't have enough memory for big pictures. (That's why our little pictures by our usernames need to be small.) If you can stick it on ANY external website though (like your excellent Piczo site), you can just link it here from there. Alternatively you could probably put it on something like Photo Bucket.
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Re: Zone 1 Challenge - FRIDAY 29th MAY 2009

Post by mps247 »

I've just realised that neither Phil nor I have given a report on our zone 1 route - let me quickly rectify that with whatever I can remember from that day.

We departed with (almost) everybody else from the Southbound Northern line platform at Angel. We were debating whether or not to change at Moorgate or Bank, and decided Moorgate to prevent having to pass through it twice. Additionally, it is easier to get lost if running from Chancery Lane to Farringdon rather than vice-versa. Not knowing where door positions were, we followed a group down to the end of the train in the hope they had the same plan as we did. They didn't, and we had a bit longer to run. However, this didn't cost us a train, and we took a Westbound Hammersmith & City line service to Farringdon.

Then a run from Farringdon to Chancery Lane, Central line to Liverpool Street, and a Circle line to Aldgate where we met up with Andi and Garion who had just run from Aldgate East. A run to Aldgate East for a District line train, which pulled in a few minutes after our arrival, to Victoria. Southbound Victoria line to Vauxhall, where we got a little confused at the layout of the mainline station. As we arrived at platform 7, a train for London Waterloo pulled away. Chances are, even if we didn't get confused, we wouldn't have caught it anyway. Here we met up with tangy, with whom we ran to Jubilee line platforms at Waterloo for a train to London Bridge (tangy very kindly giving us door positions). We met up with Andi and Garion on the Southbound Northern line to Elephant & Castle, where it was a quick dash to a waiting Northbound Bakerloo line train. We were quite pleased with our plan, as we didn't seem to be far off the pace. We weren't so confident after telling Andi that we intended to take the Bakerloo line all the way up to Paddington (Bakerloo), and noting his reaction...

Anyway, we persevered, and I finally found out what "minor delays" actually meant as the train stopped at many red signals between Oxford Circus and Paddington (Bakerloo). It's a noisy section of track too! Out at Paddington (Bakerloo) for a run to Paddington (Hammersmith & City) for a very good connection to an Eastbound Hammersmith & City line service. We took this to Euston Square, where we got out and had a disagreement as to which way to run to Euston. We had both worked out that we were on the North side of the road, but I wanted to run along the main road, while Phil wanted to use some side streets. I yielded to Phil's suggestion (it really was better - the main road would have taken longer!) and we got into Euston. Richie saw us debating on his way to Warren Street, but I think we were too wrapped-up in our own World to notice him.

Then Southbound Northern line to Tottenham Court Road, and Westbound Central line to Queensway for a short run to Bayswater. It was at this point where Phil's ticket became corrupted, and hence we had problems with the barriers. We decided not to catch the Circle line train waiting on the platform at Bayswater in hope for a District line train behind it. This was not to be, as it was followed by another Circle line. In dismay, we took it to High Street Kensington, where I hoped that we would have an Olympia service waiting. No such luck - perhaps if we had taken the previous Circle line train we might have been been better off. This was my fault, as I stopped Phil from getting on it.

Anyway, a Wimbledon service arrived, which we took to Earl's Court. Then an Eastbound District line service to Sloane Square, from where we ran out to catch the no. 137 to Knightsbridge (the driver very kindly waiting for us! :)). Traffic was very heavy at the end of Sloane Street, which cost us a bit of time. We got out and ran to Knightsbridge for the Piccadilly line to King's Cross St. Pancras.

I got a little worried upon arrival at the Horse & Groom when we handed our time to Matt, whose response was, "Ooooh!"... it was a good ooooh.

Thanks to Andi and Garion for organising a very enjoyable day, and to all those who participated!
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