Z1 2010: The Write-ups

All you need to know and discuss about the 2010 Zone 1 Challenge.
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Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Garion »

I thought it might be a good idea if there was a topic of its own for people who wishes to do write-ups...saves people looking all over the place I guess..

Anyway I've just this minute come in (at 2AM) so I'll do my write up later today :) Needless to say, it was an amazing day and thanks to Tangy & Co for everything and all the hard work you all put in :)
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Root »

Two important questions: who won, and how many signed up for the sweepstake? :)
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Sam »

Peter Smyth won with a time of 2 hrs 52 mins and ?? seconds. Al and I came second with a time of 3 hours 00 mins and 43 seconds so congratulations Peter!!

As for the sweepstake you may as well forget it.... No one was interested. Oh and guys if you had issues with the set up, these should have been raised with Ollie, not taken out on me, I don't appreciate it especially as I was just trying to do Ollie a favour....
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Root »

Well, that's a shame. The format is hardly different from that of four years ago, which got plenty of players, and there did seem to be some interest in the thread. Not sure what to do about the money that people (me & Neil at least) have already sent you. Maybe we'll just play amongst ourselves...
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by tubeguru »

I like playing with myself. Oh ... "amongst".
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Sam »

Well it would seem that people thought we all had to make up the 32 teams, however you said to me that if needed you'd probably make up the deficit and people were annoyed that wasn't posted on here but then again no one asked you to clarify....
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by tubeguru »

Maybe you should try again with clarifications. Come on people, it's hardly the defecit we're spending here ...
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

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Well I had an enjoyable two days in London :) I experienced London on a number of levels; as a tourist, as a commuter and of course, as a tube challenger! :) Many thanks to Sam and Matt for letting me stay over :D

Well I arrived in London on the thursday for the much needed research. I already had a circular route planned in my head and on paper so all I needed was the door positions. So I arrived in London and started wandering around at Victoria.

Hours Later I was done. I actually did the Zone 1 challenge but only during walking pace. I didnt see how long I took but it was around 3 and a half hours which wasnt bad. On my travels I was called a good smaritan by a nice Indian guy and helped a few people with luggage and prams and telling people where to go. On my way up to Euston, I got chatting to this guy who was interested with the challenge and we had a chat about it and stuff. I invited him to Zone 1 but he had an exhibition to open.

In the evening, I went over to Sam and Matt's house in South London. The journey was strange as it was like going to see my ex girlfriend on the train lol. I arrived and we spoke about a number of things...mostly about the tube..like we do :P

Now..Friday..

I got up at 6.30AM which I was actually suprised I managed to do easily lol. The three of us got a bus to Morden and then the Underground to Swiss cottage where we had breakfast. I dont know if it was because I did not want cheese in my Bacon and Egg McMuffin, or no sauce on my Bacon Roll, but the woman who served me didnt seem to have a clue what she was doing. After a decade of waiting, I find that my Bacon and Egg McMuffin had no Bacon! So after clearing up that lil incident, as I was about to start my Bacon Roll, I was presented with another McMuffin. How cool was that? :D After saying goodbye to Matt and Sam, I was getting ready to leave when I had a call off Sam, saying that her workshop was cancelled and had nothing to so. So we met back up and decided to hunt down a certain, famous Tube geek, sorry, challenger! :P. After a mad dash to a certain station, only to miss him by 10 seconds, we met up with Moley at Finchley Road where Sam had a rather interesting conversation with some weird guy... We eventually met up with Geoff at Canons Park and stayed with him until around 12.45 where me and Sam went to meet up with you all at Shoreditch. At this point, it was already very hot and I was already starting to feel tired.

At Shoreditch, after saying hello to everyone, the starting station was drawn: Waterloo. After an enjoyable ride on a nice, new Class 378, and a change at Canada Water, we arrived at Waterloo. At 1pm, most of us started on the eastbound Jubilee platform. I went to my door I needed for London Bridge and waited. At London bridge, all you could see was 30 people make a mad dash from the train and up the stairs. I didnt go at full pace on this run but we had a few mins wait for a train (if I recall correctly). After going down to Elephant and Castle, and changing there, we all went up to Waterloo. At this stage, after changing at Waterloo, me and Kevin and his group were wondering if we had similar routes..However, at Euston, we parted company. This was when I was truly on my own.

At Euston, I went to see if there was a southbound train coming, so I could change at Warren Street, a run which I researched the previous day. Nope, 5 minutes...bugger that I thought, I ran from Euston, to Euston Square relying purely on memory from last year, chasing after Andi. I got to Euston Square and I had another 3 min wait for a train. After going to Paddington (H&C), I ran to Paddington (Bakerloo) but I walked half of the way. This was one of the better connections as a train pulled in like 30 seconds after I got there. A short hop down to Oxford Circus where I missed a train, but!! As I could see the train going away in the tunnel, I could see the next train coming. I've never seen two trains so close together before!

Now...I know Queensway only had one lift working the day before...well today..there was none! So what did I do? Yep, I ran round and round and round up those stairs and down to Bayswater. I took a minute out on this run to get a drink and have a sit down for like 20 seconds. It didnt cost me as a train pulled in straight away. Down to Earls Court where the doors of the Piccadilly line train closed right infront of me. Now, unlike some..I didnt swear at the top of my voice and..well you know the rest ;)

After a 3 min wait, I went to Kings Cross where I changed to the Northern Line. I got a little bit lost here but soon found my way. I tell you, the new way to the Northern Line from the Piccadilly is like twice/three times as longer as the old way. I wouldnt recommend it, but I had to do it. After 2 mins, a train pulled in and off I went to Bank.

Now at bank, as I was running to the Central Line, I heard a train pulling in. Since it was above me, I didnt know if it was going west or east, so I made a dash for it. Luckily, it was going west and I got on it. Probably the best connection of the day. I went to Chancery Lane and ran to Farringdon. It was boiling hot and I was sweating loads. I had a 5 minute wait for a train to Aldgate. There, as I was going through the barriers, I noticed a group of people running behind me. Upon looking, I saw it was Kevin and his crew. We all ran to Aldgate East, where I let them run on ahead. Again, it didnt cost me because as I was going through the barriers, I saw a train pulling in. Perfect. We went to Tower Hill which cost us all as someone pulled the emergency alarm. After standing by both trains, seeing which one left first, we got on the other train and left.

Now on our way to Sloane Square, we had a bit of a disagreement about door positions. Needless to say, I had the advantage as I was right by the escalator and Kevin was in the next carriage down. After a mad dash up and over, an eastbound train was pulling in and I rushed to the second carriage while Kevin and Co went to the one infront. At Victoria, we both went down to the Victoria Line and had a 1 min wait for a train. We went to Vauxhall where the four of us finished, with a time of 03:03:05 and to the sight of Al and Sam on the platform waiting for us (I presume). After saying goodbye to them, we proceeded to the pub...or did we?

You think that was it, but no! Something totally unexpected happened. On the southbound platform, a 2009 stock train pulled in. Wow! We joked about getting on it. I made a mad dash for it (because I'm such a geek :P). I was followed by the others and we went down to Brixton. One thing I would say, is that the seats are really comfy and the trains, really fast! Anyway, at Brixton, we all went to the pub. After meeting up with the others, the results were read out. I came joint 4th with Kevin and his group (I forgot their team name) and then it was the traditional round of darts where me and Al lost :P

I left around 7.50 to go on another adventure. Needless to say, that was truly "Fi, fy-hyn a fi"
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Well i joined up for the day wiv David Scard We set off from Waterloo heading eastbound Jubilee towards London Bridge where everybody just missed a connection and Adham Fisher nearly slipped then kicked a bottle in front of me :lol: .

Getting this we had the perfect door again for E&C unfortunately yet another train had just left as well we decided to go all way up to Paddington then switch to H&C i got to admit i havent done this run for some time but they have a handy line on the floor nowadays.

We got off at Aldgate East knowing we had a 4 min run for the Aldgate train with 2 other Teams wiv us this was made easily.Next we switched to a district line train at South Kensington to go to Earls Court wiv a little wait there for a Bayswater - Queensway run.

Im sure others that were wiv us will report that they had some incidents on this run :lol: i however ran in the road clear of danger despite an earlier slightly brushing al Brown out of way never hit any1.

We took Central all the way to Bank and up to Euston for the change of branches there was 1 other team left wiv us and duly we lost them on my 1st ever Goodge Street - Russell Square run we then headed down to Knightsbridge bussed to Sloane square got off at Victoria running down the no entry corridor tut tut and finished at Vauxhall in a time of 3h 10m 46s.
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Nigel »

I promised my 8 year old son that I would follow the general circular route he had devised, but I knew it had some overlapping sections so it would not be a record breaker. The only decision was which way to go from Waterloo, but this was a bit of a no-brainer, as I could now avoid a Vauxhall - Waterloo leg.
Along with most other teams I went east on the Jubliee. I was shocked at London Bridge by the speed of the stampede of the others heading to the Northern Line, but I was then the only one to choose to go North. Until the last change of the day, I had no luck with trains, always at least a two minute wait and often longer.
My first run was Goodge Street - Russell Square. I know I'm a bit out of shape these days, and a knee injury means that I shouldn't run too much - I was pretty out of breath by the time I got to Russell Square, but things improved on the subsequent runs, so I think it was just initial nerves causing my problems. The lifts were out at Queensway, so I had to run up the stairs with main problem being passing other passengers who were strugglig up more slowly.
I had a nightmare with being stuck at signals in and out of Earl's Court - went from being on schedule to eight minutes down - but at least it gave me an opportunity to phone my son to give him an update.
I then did a Sloane Square to Knightsbridge run - I realised on Sloane Street that perhaps I could catch a bus, but didn't want to risk it as I wasn't sure were it went. So I just ran like crazy, and in fact beat the bus to Knightsbridge.
On arriving at Aldagte after a run from Aldgate East I saw the first fellow competitors since London Bridge (Kevin's team, I think) just getting off an arriving Met line. Bad luck struck again, with a Circle Line not shown for ten minutes, so I caught a Met and changed at Great Portland Street hoping for an H&C, but the next train was still the Circle line now more than 10 minutes late. Also slightly misjudged the door position at Paddington, so got stuck behind a lot of tourists with enormous suitcases on the stairs.
Bakerloo to Oxford Circus and for the only time a train in the adjoining Victoria line platform and down to Vauxhall in 3h 19m 27s.
As soon as I stepped onto the platform I bumped into another team who had finished on the same train (sorry, forgotten your names). We both got a northbound train to go back to the pub, and immediately saw a thrid team who hadn't finished yet.
I'm hooked - bring on the next challenge. With a bit more careful route planning, and a a bit better luck I think the time could come down a bit - that said, I had no real very bad luck, such as lines being down or major delays.
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Root »

Well I did say that if we got less than 32 teams purchased, they would all be divided fairly. So if 16 are purchased then everyone gets "two for the price of one". At the moment we're going to be getting about ten teams each!
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by tubeguru »

Root wrote:Well I did say that if we got less than 32 teams purchased, they would all be divided fairly. So if 16 are purchased then everyone gets "two for the price of one". At the moment we're going to be getting about ten teams each!
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Going Underground »

Root wrote:Well, that's a shame. The format is hardly different from that of four years ago, which got plenty of players, and there did seem to be some interest in the thread. Not sure what to do about the money that people (me & Neil at least) have already sent you. Maybe we'll just play amongst ourselves...
The problem on Friday was that with the actual Z1 event itself, the presentations, quiz and darts only a handful of people were left at the pub when we remberered about the sweepstake late in the evening... :(
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Going Underground »

Waterloo was a good starting station with the Shoreditch meet and Jubilee eastbound seemed the best option. Several teams took this option at at the first change at London Bridge I think it was our organiser Tangy leading the way up the steps to the Northern Line causing a few "screams" from pasengers coming down with luggage :shock:

Our team included my work colleague "Scuba Ric" and Nozzacook and we changed at Waterloo together with Garion assuming we may have the same route... At Euston we went our separate ways and have several "average" changes up until Paddington H & C where on a "very" busy train I somehow thought we had to exit on the left. :? It took ages to get past the other commuters up the stairs and down the mainline platform.. We got split up and Damien was 200 yards behind us only at the top of the H & C stairs when Richard and myself were at the other end of the mainline platform...
This cost us a Bakerloo train and a 3 minute wait.... Arriving at Queensway we heard the bad news about the lifts not working so struggled up the stairs to run to Bayswater. We had reasonable connections until we just missed a Met line at Liverpool Street and had a 6 min wait for the next Aldgate. Here we saw Nigel heading into Aldgate station and again we were back with Garion....
A painful run to Aldgate East for a well timed Wimbledon and then being alert at Tower Hill we switched trains as the one on the adjacent platform was leaving 1st... Unfortunately someone had pulled the emergency handle and although this train did eventually leave 1st we must have been delayed there for getting on for 10 mins :(

My second schoolboy error was at Sloane Square where I had written the door positions on a tube map but was looking at Earls Court by mistake :roll:

It didn't cost us a train and we finished with Garion at Vauxhall in 3hrs 3mins 5secs to see Sam and Al jumping up and down with elation so we knew straight away we hadn't finished 1st :(
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Re: Z1 2010: The Write-ups

Post by Garion »

Going Underground wrote: My second schoolboy error was at Sloane Square where I had written the door positions on a tube map but was looking at Earls Court by mistake :roll:
I told you my door was the right one ;) lol. And I had a feeling Sam would beat us to it :P
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