ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

All you need to know and discuss about the 2009 Zone 1 Challenge.
mps247
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by mps247 »

palkanetoijala31 wrote:Probably one of my favourites as well even though i dont seem to do very well on them :cry:
Novices take note - the above quote is from Andi, who is the current World record holder for the full network!

(Sorry Andi, I wanted to prove a point...)
palkanetoijala31

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

mps247 wrote:
palkanetoijala31 wrote:Probably one of my favourites as well even though i dont seem to do very well on them :cry:
Novices take note - the above quote is from Andi, who is the current World record holder for the full network!

(Sorry Andi, I wanted to prove a point...)
dont worry its true im crap at r15 i seem to make crap decisions in them u have to be very fast thinking in them obviously the amount of beer i have drunk over the years has dimmed my brain cells.
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Edgemaster
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by Edgemaster »

All this is just making me want to do an R15 even more... :( I've got a long summer holiday coming up anyway :) before hopefully taking a place in Sept/Oct in a London university :)
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greatkingrat
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by greatkingrat »

There will probably be another R15 at some point in July/August so hopefully you can make that one.
Soon to be yet another forum train driver
jbom1

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by jbom1 »

What an enjoyable day, and thanks to everyone who took part.

Starting at Willesden Green, I took the southbound Jubilee (no surprise there), continued to Baker Street, changed to the Bakerloo for Regent's Park (0:16) and doubled back to the northbound. Passing through Kilburn Park (just under 0:30) to arrive at Queen's Park (just over 0:32). The southbound train was already in and I'd given up on it, so didn't run until I got to the footbridge - just made it. Back to Paddington and across to the H&C platforms, where there was a Hammersmith train due in four minutes (after a long gap). So I didn't need to use the back-up plan of going east, and headed for Wood Lane via Ladbroke Grove (0:53). Most of the field had come back together and were on this train, so we had an entertaining mass sprint to White City, definitely a highlight as the Central train was already in as we arrived. After Lancaster Gate (1:07), I left the train at Marble Arch but didn't get the right exit and finally found myself almost underneath Marble Arch itself and had a little run through Hyde Park itself before finding a bus stop to get me to the Piccadilly Line's Hyde Park Corner. Passing Knightsbridge (1:23), I arrived at Earl's Court (1:29). Eight stations in an hour and a half - promising. Quite a wait for the Wimbledon train which got me to East Putney (1:49). Not keen on the Putney run, I stayed on till Wimbledon, crossed to platform 5 for SWT and went two stops to Clapham Junction. Fortunate with the door position, it was a quick change to the Southern train for Balham, which arrived immediately. I was at completely the wrong end of Balham station, and ended up just missing a Northern Line, but after a short wait passed through Clapham Common (2:24). I stayed on the train until Bank, then quickly doubled back to St Paul's (2:44). One stop to Bank, and a run along King William Street to Monument and a position at the back of the platform for a quick bridge run at Aldgate East (2:59). I could only find "First Train" indicators here, which showed nothing, so was unsure whether to wait it out or run to Aldgate. A longish wait, but it was good luck that the first train was for Hammersmith. A smooth change to the Northern at Moorgate (I reckoned this was a quicker change than KXSP) and the first train was for the correct branch. So, through King's Cross St Pancras (3:20) to Chalk Farm (3:27). The first train back south was the wrong branch, but I took it anyway and found the correct one at Camden Town. Back to KXSP and just the final change to the Piccadilly for Manor House (3:48:12).

The day seemed to go well, with no obvious bad decisions or long waits. So I was slightly surprised it took as long as 3:48:12, but it turned out to be a decent time.
palkanetoijala31

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

I do realise i was very unpopular for the set of the stations that came out but i did use ur site to do it.
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al
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by al »

An enjoyable day for me also, and thanks to Soup Dragon and Dr Who who went round with me and put up with my astonishingly slow running!

Southbound from Willesden Green, we dived out straight away at Kilburn for the short run to Brondesbury. Overground to Willesden Junction, then Bakerloo S/B to Warwick Avenue for a pleasant if tiring run to Royal Oak. Very frustrating to wait 12 mins for a train there, and then see Matt/Kev/Ryan on there also. We were hoping they had just waited at Paddington, but no, they had done Regents Park also.

I was too slow to keep up with everyone on the run from Wood Lane to White City, so I got onto the platform with the train pulling out. The platform looked empty, so I assumed my team mates had boarded it also, but I wasn't bothered as the next train was only a minute behind. A quick look at the Way Out map and I ran down the platform to get to the back of the train, when I saw Soup Dragon! He shouted up the stairs to Dr Who who thought I hadn't made it to the station yet, and we just all made it onto the next train. None of us realised there were two staircases onto the same platform.

Change at Oxford Circus onto N/B Bakerloo, then off at Regents Park. We ran as far as GPS, where a bus took us on to Warren Street. The correct Northern line train took us to Chalk Farm, then more luck as another good Northern returned us to KXSP. Piccadilly to Manor Park, then we went for our wild card move and took the bus to Stamford Hill NR, where we had to wait 10 mins for a train to Bethnal Green NR.

A run to Whitechapel and we played guess the platform (correctly) for a H&C to Liverpool Street. I had more luck than the previous day with the run down to the Central, and we changed at Holborn for a Piccadilly. Off at Earls Court, and onto a District to East Putney, where we met Hakan.

The Putney run followed, with my slow running nearly missing us a good train for another wild card decision of alighting at Queenstown Road (Battersea) to get the bus to Clapham Common. As this was our last station, we had to depart by tube, so stopped the clock at Clapham North. We were happy to get a sub 4 hour time with this quite harsh set of stations. Who knows what we may have achieved if we had also done the Regents Park gamble at the beginning, although we did have very sexy changes everywhere other than Royal Oak and Stamford Hill - the best I have ever had on any challenge.
Held some Alternative Challenge records for a long time.
Doesn't any more.
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joy54
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by joy54 »

My day incurred the worst luck I have had in my R15 history.

Started off with me arriving late due to forgetting both the Jubilee line between Stratford and Green Park as well as the whole of the Victoria was closed. Ended up having to get District to Embankment for a Bakerloo to Baker Street, Metropolitan (packed already with Everton fans) to Finchley Road and then Jubilee to Willesden Green meaning a delayed start for everybody at 1205.

I was teaming up with Adham and he had also been delayed on his way from Tottenham Hale but this turned into quite good luck. He was on a NLL train from Caledonian Road as we began at Willesden Green so I agreed to meet him on my way down at West Hampstead. In the end with the stations on the Bakerloo at Queen's Park & Kilburn Park, I ended up telling him to stay on the train and I'd meet him on that. He was 2 stops away when the rest of the pack jumped out and ran it from Kilburn to Brondesbury so I knew I could make it to West Hampstead and avoid the longer run.

Me and Adham bailed the NLL train at Kensal Rise for the run to Kensal Green which didn't gain or lose us anything as the rest of the pack were on the Bakerloo we comfortably made. We stayed on this to Oxford Circus for a change to the Central Line to Notting Hill Gate, this came pretty swiftly and at NHG we ran into the sweltering heat hoping for the 52/452 bus to Ladbroke Grove. Instead a 31 turned up immediately so we took that intending to get off at Westbourne Park but half way we saw a 23 so ran kamikazilly across a main road just catching it. Both the buses were slightly held up due to taxis stopping in ridiculous places but we still thought it was quicker than doing the White City/Wood Lane thing.

On arrival at Ladbroke Grove we caught the tailed end of an announcement mentioning a 18 minute wait and a very disgruntled woman walking past saying that it was 18 minutes away from PADDINGTON! This was confirmed to us when we crossed over to the Northbound platform to the information desk. We decided we could no longer continue out planned route southbound to Hammersmith and the only option now was to head up to Paddington. The wait for this was also an excruciating 8 minutes. At Paddington Adham really gunned it and made it to the platform with ages to spare, I took it leisurely from the ticket hall at Paddington as I checked the CCTV cameras showing the boards and saw nothing was shown. About a 2 minute wait for us then for a Circle to South Kensington for a quick Piccadilly double back to Knightsbridge. This was all pretty swift with Piccadilly's just arriving on both occasions. At Earl's Court we had a slight wait for a Wimbledon service (we could of had a perfect Olympia though) and then the ride to East Putney.

On arrival Adham again gunned it to Putney to find a 5 minute wait for the next Waterloo service so we bought some well needed snacks at the kiosk, we also took the oppourtunity to check the Balham services from Clapham and found a service at 21/24 minutes past the hour. We arrived at 21 minutes past and so had to concede for the 24 minutes past to Balham (ended up being non-stop in the end). At Balham we just missed a NB Northern so had another 2 minute wait for the next up to Bank. Here the Way Out Map gave a slightly incorrect reading leaving use to push our way through some of the crowds to get to the Central Line. Sexy change on arrival at the platform for a quick double back, never changing at St Paul's we didn't realise the platforms were on top of each other which was a bit of a surprise. Another minute wait here for our trip to Liverpool Street.

At Liverpool Street the H&C fcuked us up again with a 7 minute wait to get us to Aldgate East. We took the decision to catch the bus, we had a good change onto the 205 but were seriously delayed by a bloody GYPSY who couldn't find her bus pass! We ended up not stopping at Aldgate East bus stop as it was closed so had to use the other Aldgate East entrance at the other end of the station. This cost us dearly as on arrival the H&C we needed was just pulling out of the station. We took the District just behind to Tower Hill for a 3 minute wait for a Circle. This was OK until we had a 7 minute wait at Aldgate which was so frustrating! We then changed at Moorgate for a Northern to Chalk Farm, this again was 2 minutes away but at least it was an Edgware train. At Chalk Farm the first service on the board was a CX branch so we had to change at Camden Town. We ran across to the other SB platform to find another CX service so ended up catching the service behind from Chalk Farm anyway. Took this to KX for our last change onto a Piccadilly line which was waiting for us up to Manor House.

All that took 4:06:24!!!

We then found a nice pub just outside to watch the second half of the FA Cup, had a lovely pear cider and saw a great Lampard strike so a nice end to a rubbish R15.
Last edited by joy54 on 31 May 2009, 17:11, edited 1 time in total.
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Soup Dragon
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by Soup Dragon »

The official results for the final R15 event of 2008/09:

Revised after cosultation with the BERC.

1. 3:31:52 Peter Smyth
2. 3:31:53 Kevin & Ryan Brown, & Matthew Scrivin
3. 3:48:22 John Mitchell
4. 3:55:36 Alistair, Antony & Jamie Brown
5. 4:06:24 Steven Karahan
6. 4:29:22 Martin Hazel
7. 5:02:20 Hassan Chagani
8. 14 Stations Adham Fisher
9. 12 Stations Hakan Wolge
One day I shall return!
jbom1

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by jbom1 »

Thanks again everyone. One tiny correction - my time was 3:48:12.
mps247
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by mps247 »

So, I succesfully managed to set the slowest R15 time ever recorded! :oops: All I need to do now is break the record and I'll end up with both extremes! Here's what happened to me:

Starting the challenge was a challenge in itself! Embarrassingly for somebody on his way to a tube challenge, I forgot that the Jubilee line wasn't running from Westminster, which meant that I arrived late. I actually got out at Regent's Park just to text Kev to tell him I would be late and to start without me. Fortunately, the very kind newsagent at Willesden Green station kept hold of my copy of the stations drawn. Unfortunately, there are two newsagents at the station, and I went to the wrong one :shock:! Much confusion ensued, until I was informed of another newsagent at the other entrance. After getting the stations, I popped outside for a quick smoke as I planned my route... by this time I was 25 minutes off the pace.

Walk back into the station to find out my Oyster card needs to topped up! I don't think it cost me a train though, and I ran down to platform getting a Southbound Jubilee line service from Willesden Green (0:00:00 I guess... :cry:) to Kilburn, and ran to the bus stop across the road. Looking at the traffic, I decided not to take the bus to Kilburn Park and run to Brondesbury instead. The North London Line to Richmond saw me into Willseden Junction, from where I took the Watford DC line to Queen's Park for a beautiful cross-platform change for the Southbound Bakerloo line (this was one of only two good connections I got during the day). The Bakerloo train took me from Queen's Park (0:55:38), through Kilburn Park (0:57:04) to Paddington (Bakerloo) for a quick run to Paddington (Hammersmith & City).

Severe delays on the Westbound Hammersmith & City line meant my train arrived 20 minutes after I arrived. I was tempted to run back to Paddington (Bakerloo) and knock-off Regent's Park, but I didn't think I would make it in time to catch the train at Great Portland Street. So, I waited, visiting Ladbroke Grove (1:30:34) on my way to Hammersmith (Hammersmith & City). After running through the Broadway Centre to the bus station, I was greated with news that the 211 service was experiencing severe delays due to traffic between Hammersmith and Fulham... which was pretty much my route. I soldiered on and caught the 295 to Fulham Broadway, ran to Fulham Broadway station and just missed the Southbound District line. After another long wait, I got into East Putney (2:20:16) just to see a District line service pull into the other platform with no chance of catching it! Another long wait brought me to Earl's Court (2:34:55), where I ran down to catch the Piccadilly line (not noticing that the escalators were running in oppostite directions to normal, and almost having an accident! :roll:) to Hyde Park Corner, passing through Knightsbridge (2:41:01).

The No. 10 from Hyde Park Corner took me to Marble Arch, from where I caught the Central line to Lancaster Gate (2:56:38), for a double-back to Oxford Circus. Onto the Bakerloo line to Regent's Park (3:11:54), from where I ran to Warren Street. At this stage, I considered stopping as I was so far off the pace, and so close to the pub! However, looking at the drawn stations, I thought everybody was going to be slow, and although I would be last, I was hoping to beat the 5-hour mark.

Took the Northern line to Chalk Farm (3:29:02), just missing a train going back into the city. Caught the next train and changed at King's Cross St. Pancras (3:38:28) for a Northbound Piccadilly line to Manor House (3:51:43), for my second and last beautiful connection Southbound to Holborn. Transferring onto the Central line, I passed through St. Paul's (4:11:22) on my way to Liverpool Street, where I just missed an Eastbound Hammersmith & City service. Next train to Aldgate was in 6 minutes, and the next train to Aldgate East was in 8 minutes, so there was no point in running from Aldgate... although I probably could have run between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East, but this didn't occur to me.

As I got into Aldgate East (4:28:06), I just missed a District line service going back. A few minutes behind it, the next train was a Hammersmith & City service. I took it to Moorgate, and ran down to the Northern line platforms. By this time, I knew that it would be tight for me to beat the 5-hour mark. I was right, as I arrived at Clapham Common at 5:02:20.

Had I managed to get to the start on time, I probably would be 25 minutes ahead of that. Additionally, if half of my connections had worked out well and there were no delays on the Hammersmith & City line I might have shaved off another 20 minutes. I would still have been an hour off the pace though (if the Hammersmith & City line had been working correctly for everybody else too), as my route wasn't very good... but I was so pleased when I came back to the pub to find that I hadn't come "last"! :lol:
jbom1

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by jbom1 »

Thanks for the informative write-up, Hassan. Zoe and I had a day like that at the last R15 when we set the previous slowest R15 'record'; I think we still hold the wooden spoon for completed Z1 attempts. By the way, was your decision not to link East Putney and Clapham Common related to using Oyster PAYG?
mps247
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by mps247 »

jbom1 wrote:Thanks for the informative write-up, Hassan. Zoe and I had a day like that at the last R15 when we set the previous slowest R15 'record'; I think we still hold the wooden spoon for completed Z1 attempts. By the way, was your decision not to link East Putney and Clapham Common related to using Oyster PAYG?
Partly, yes. Strangely enough, I had researched East Putney to Clapham Common a few days before the challenge, and found the no. 37 bus, which takes around 40 minutes to complete the journey. Had I started on time, I probably would have done this instead - however, my late start clouded my vision, and I thought it might be better to finish at Clapham Common rather than Manor House.

I did consider taking a train from Putney to Clapham Junction, and then another to Balham. However, I thought that by the time I ran to Putney, completed the journey to Balham, and got to Clapham Common, it would probably take me just as long as the bus. Having said that, Peter took this route, and ended up winning! However, this was just by one second, and I believe that Kevin, Ryan and Matt took the bus instead (I might not have remembered that correctly).

I think in future I will probably buy a travelcard to increase the number of options open to me. If worst came to worst, I probably would have bought a ticket at Putney just for this journey. Yes, I think using Oyster PAYG did cloud my judgement on this challenge - however, I'm still not sure if the train would be better than the bus for this journey. What does everybody else think?

Another point about Oyster PAYG - the possibility of timing out after 2 hours underground is constantly in the back of my mind. Normally, this isn't so much of a problem as you end up surfacing at some point during the 3-and-a-half hours you are running around the network. However, I came very close to timing out on my last leg when I finished at Clapham Common having touched in at Warren Street. This is probably another reason to switch to a paper travelcard.
jbom1

Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by jbom1 »

My interest in this corner stems from making a complete hash of High St Kensington - Clapham South in last July's R15. I used the Wimbledon Branch, Tramlink(!), a bus, and South Wimbledon station.

On Saturday, my East Putney - Clapham Common via Wimbledon, Clapham Junction and Balham was about 35 minutes. That was with a fortuitously perfect door position on the SWT and a quick connection at Clapham Junction; however, the service from there to Balham is pretty frequent, as of course is Wimbledon to Clapham Junction. Also I got on completely the wrong end of the Southern train, and would otherwise probably have got the previous Northern Line train. I guess the journey could be done in about 31 or 32 minutes with ideal connections and maybe around 40 minutes with unlucky ones.

Plus the Southern train had facilities that one might otherwise have to stop (and pay 30p) to use.

There's also the hourly train from Shepherd's Bush, KO, West Brompton and CJ direct to Balham. This would have been perfect had I been a few minutes later.
mps247
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Re: ZONE 1 WARM UP EVENT OR RUN AFTER EVENT 2009

Post by mps247 »

I didn't know that trains were so frequent between Balham and Clapham Junction. I knew about Southern's hourly service that goes along the West London Line (I've taken this service from Kensington (Olympia) to Milton Keynes Central, despite the fact that the woman behind the counter at Kensington (Olympia) refused to sell me a ticket for it!), and I guessed that there were a couple of trains per hour from Victoria.

However, I never realised there were 13 :shock: trains per hour between these two destinations on a Saturday afternoon! Looks like this is a route I should bear in mind for the future! Thanks! ;)
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