Random 15 Championship 2015/16: Round 2

[nozzacook]

Sorry guys won't be able to make it hoping to get to them next year.

[MylesHSG]

Tangy (I guess)
The Orange One
GU + Brockwell parkrun
RailRiders (Josh, Harry and Aidan)
crypto
The Raven + Brockwell parkrun
tractakid + Brockwell parkrun (seriously, how many people are there called Brockwell parkrun?!)
Myles

[MylesHSG]

Tangy (I guess)
The Orange One
GU + Brockwell parkrun
RailRiders (Josh, Harry and Aidan)
crypto
The Raven + Brockwell parkrun
tractakid + Brockwell parkrun (seriously, how many people are there called Brockwell parkrun?!)
Myles

Shoot just remembered I have to work until 4. I'll catch you guys at the pub for some darts though.

[Sarnian]

I've been thinking about having a go at one of these for a while.

Tangy (I guess)
The Orange One
GU + Brockwell parkrun
RailRiders (Josh, Harry and Aidan)
crypto
The Raven + Brockwell parkrun
tractakid + Brockwell parkrun (seriously, how many people are there called Brockwell parkrun?!)
Myles (?)
Sarnian

[Going Underground]

Shoot just remembered I have to work until 4. I'll catch you guys at the pub for some darts though.

Will try and remember your cap!

[Going Underground]

For non FB members post parkrun Spoons should be The Beehive, Brixton

[leamfarrar]

Feeling so upset that I can no longer participate. I was loving it so much, but the silver lining is that we're going to start a championship up here in Sydney, so there is something to that one

[palkanetoijala31]

That's a good idea obviously plenty of advance warning and u may even get an international guest if tie up with a holiday?

[RJSRdg]

I'm surprised we haven't had any write-ups/results posted of this round yet - though I notice there's been a write-up of the morning's park run.

Having missed out on doing the R15 due to injury,I'm itching to find out how everyone got on (and to see the list of stops so I can work out what route I would have taken had I been able to take part!)

[The Orange One]

It was quite a simple set of stations! There was a little disruption on the Piccadilly Line plus an annoying occurrence with the platforms at Hammersmith. It was a live draw so give yourself a little time.

Camden Town
Hyde Park Corner
Borough
Royal Oak
Finsbury Park
West Brompton
London Bridge
Piccadilly Circus
Chalk Farm
Tower Hill
Pimlico
Covent Garden
Angel
Hammersmith (H&C)
Bond Street

My route was:
Camden Town Chalk Farm Euston Finsbury Park King's Cross St Pancras (via Victoria Line) Bank Monument Tower Hill Monument Bank Stockwell Green Park Bond Street Holborn Earl's Court West Brompton Earl's Court Hammersmith Royal Oak

I teamed up with the Rail Riders for this challenge (they're the really organised team of kids from Sussex).

The crowds at Camden Town were about as large as I predicted, so it was a nice sedate shuffle down the spiral staircase towards the Edgware branch northbound platform. At the bottom, we took the chance to speed up, and about half of us (including me + team) piled on board a waiting train. We took this towards Chalk Farm, where there was a short doubleback. The train was a Charing Cross branch one, so not ideal, but we charged off the train, round the corridors and down to the Victoria Line, where we were blessed with a second waiting train. We all boarded it and were whisked up to Finsbury Park.

At Finsbury Park, I went up the stairs, but almost headed back down to the same platforms again! My teammates set me straight and we headed to the southbound platforms; no time was lost here though. We climbed aboard a southbound Victoria Line train, which we took to King's Cross St Pancras, where we had a 1 minute wait for a Northern Line train south. Down to Bank, up the escalator link and onto a waiting District Line train (the third train right there so far) to Tower Hill. Tower Hill was the first real wait of the day, as a District Line train was missed by seconds. A train turned up around 5 minutes later and we were off to Monument again, where it was straight down to the platforms and onto the Northern Line southbound. Tangy, who had missed the Northern Line at Camden Town, caught up with the pack at this point.

At Stockwell, we charged over the footbridge, down the Northbound Northern Line platform and to the Victoria Line. I reached the waiting train a few seconds before it left, but my teammates weren't anywhere in sight. As it is unwise to hold the doors for an excessive period of time, I allowed the train to go as a sprinting Tangy arrived on the platform. Thankfully, this being the Victoria Line, a train was there within another minute (enough time to let us get a decent door position), and we were off to Green Park. At Victoria, an entire country was waiting on the platform to board the train, but we were able to keep our position and it was a fast change onto a waiting Jubilee Line train at Bond Street, followed by an equally speedy change onto a waiting Central Line train at Holborn (the fifth such train, or sixth if you count Stockwell).

At Holborn, we were caught up in the crush of people on their way to the Piccadilly Line (a relic of the earlier disruption on the line). Luckily, at the bottom of the escalators is a little shortcut onto the westbound Piccadilly Line, which we were able to use, and this probably got us up a train as it was arriving as we reached the platform. We sat on the Piccadilly all the way down to Earl's Court, where it was a few minutes wait for a Wimbledon train. At West Brompton, there was a seventh/eighth waiting train taking us back to Earl's Court, where we changed onto a waiting District Line train towards Richmond (number 8/9!). There was no sign of the others now, so we'd left the pack behind. At Barons Court. we pulled alongside a Piccadilly Line train and unwisely bailed onto it (although the others were on board, this was in error as the District Line train overtook it on the stretch towards Hammersmith). We left the train at Hammersmith for the run to Hammersmith (H&C), where IT happened.

Upon arrival at Hammersmith (H&C), there was one train in the platforms (in Platform 3). The departures board said "First Train Platform 1"; I believed this to be due to a recently departed train on the platform as it was empty, so we all boarded the train. Then we watched as another train arrived in Platform 1. Now uneasy, I decided to keep an eye on the signal for the Platform 1 train in case it really would go first. Slightly over a minute later, the signal changed, but it was no use because the train left straight away. The train on Platform 3 did leave next, but once we'd confirmed that Peter was not on the train, we knew he'd reached Royal Oak first, and sure enough, there he was. We stopped the clock there.

All in all though, 9 trains in platform is an astonishing count for a system with certain unreliability!

[RJSRdg]

Thanks - that nice short doubleback to Chalk Farm's quite useful as it's an easy one to knock off while you work the rest of the route out!

Your route's not quite what I thought when I saw the list - I would probably have left FP to last and knocked off all the stations on the Picc in one go but otherwise not too different, I'll have a play on JP later and see how long mine would have taken - what time did you get?

[crypto]

First attempt for me! Probably a good thing that it started with a live draw for a novice to have some more time to think about the route. I teamed up with Sam, the other newbie.

The route: Camden Town Chalk Farm Monument/Bank Tower Hill Bank/Monument Stockwell Green Park Baker Street Hammersmith Earl's Court West Brompton Earl's Court Finsbury Park

Things got off to a rocky start as we ended up in the half of the group that missed the first train. After listening to murmurings of "there's obviously going to be the first whole-group tie," we were slightly concerned to learn that we were the only one left on our train after KXSP. We managed some decent changes early on, generally making for a nice relaxed start with five changes in the first hour or so.

Unfortunately, luck decided to go against us for most of the rest of the journey. At Green Park, we saw a train on the platform, but it closed its doors and left. At Baker Street, we saw a train on the platform, but it closed its doors and left (leading to an excruciating 8 minute wait). At Hammersmith D/P, we saw two trains on the platform. The first closed its doors and left, then the second followed. We got to Earl's Court and others suddenly arrived, all getting the same train to West Brompton. On our last change, just as we thought we'd used all our bad luck, Sam made it through the closing doors at Earl's Court and I got stranded on the following train. In the end, it turned out we weren't far behind the winner (something like 20 minutes), despite coming last. All in all, good fun and will be back for more in the future (pending availability, I'll probably be up for the Park Challenge).

[The Orange One]

Thanks - that nice short doubleback to Chalk Farm's quite useful as it's an easy one to knock off while you work the rest of the route out!

Your route's not quite what I thought when I saw the list - I would probably have left FP to last and knocked off all the stations on the Picc in one go but otherwise not too different, I'll have a play on JP later and see how long mine would have taken - what time did you get?

02:17:44. Excruciatingly, another team managed to slip in between Peter and us, even though he was only 5 minutes ahead so the pack finished third.

In the end, it turned out we weren't far behind the winner (something like 20 minutes), despite coming last. All in all, good fun and will be back for more in the future (pending availability, I'll probably be up for the Park Challenge).

It turned out to be more like 10! They're not always that easy, though there was the infamous Circle Line Round. The wait for a westbound train at Baker Street can be crippling!

I have no idea why we were the only ones to use the District Line at Earl's Court to reach Hammersmith. There were still knock on effects from the Piccadilly delays, getting down to the Piccadilly takes time and there is always a District Line train right there!

[RJSRdg]

Well,my quick play on JP gives me a theoretical 2:25, but of course it doesn't include random factors like the Piccadilly LIne delays. On the other hand there were a number of stations where I decided a 1 minute change wasn't possible so I've got quite a few 5 minute waits in it so perhaps it evens out.

[The Raven]

Mine and A2 route:

Camden Town Chalk Farm Leicester Square Covent Garden HPK Green Park Bond Street Hammersmith (H&C) Hammersmith (Dis & Pic) Earl's Court West Brompton Victoria Stockwell Bank Monument Tower Hill Monument Bank KXSP Finsbury Park