Same as Richard and Clive I only just got to Beckton with a train to spare thansk to SWT being in meltdown and then had the same issues with SE at Woolwich Arsenal and then going home was a nightmare.... Arriving at Waterloo in time for the 2020 there were not trains on the boards and notices that no were trains were departing in the foreseeable..... So back on tube to Hatton Cross and of course having the usual Rayners Lane and Northfields meant it was 23:45 before I got home
Anyway that aside the DLR actually behaved itself and in the end I was 17 mins down on my projected time with 2:29:(something) at Tower Gateway which amazingly was good enough for Silver
So as Clive says it's now the "blue riband" event, T4 start for me alongwith the "Tangster" I believe....
Twice former full network GWR holder and former Zone 1 Olympic and World Record holder with The Raven and Soupie Tube personality of the year 2009 Twice Winter Olympic Biathlon Gold Medalist with The Beer Baron 2008 All Lines Olympic Gold
Fun and games and the Tube Olympics DLR challenge with SET having severe delays affecting all suburban services and a temporary closure of Woolwich Arsenal NR due to a fire on the platform! This compounded by a scheduled road closure to traffic between North Woolwich and Gallions Reach...
Despite this, challengers battled through and recorded times, but obviously way off the pace.
There was 5 challengers, all of which went solo.
5th: David Edwards who aborted his attempt
4th: Tangy finishing in a time of 02:48:28 at Bank (registering the worst known time in DLR challenge history).
3rd: Richard Standing in a time of 02:45:09 at Tower Gateway.
2nd: Kevin Brown in a time of 02:29:02 at Tower Gateway.
1st: Clive Burgess in a time of 02:15:14 at Tower Gateway.
Clive finally gains a gold medal, Kevin his second silver and Richard claims his first medal of this Olympics.
Interestingly, at least in theory the diversion of the 474 owing to the bridge closure would have made little difference to a Lewisham-starting route as catching the bus from London City Airport to Beckton should have enabled a competitor to still make the same departure from Beckton as they would if they had they been able to take the bus from KGV to Gallions.
Indeed this was my originally-planned route and I only dumped it with a couple of days to go when I discovered a 2:05 from Beckton (which turned out not to be valid anyway!) so perhaps I should have stuck to my original route, which would have returned a time of 2:20....
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
My start was with Clive and Richard at 18:36 from Beckton, as expected nice cross platform at Poplar to knock off WIQ en route to Canary Wharf. Transferred straight across to Lewisham bound train, ran across to the NR platforms which showed the next direct train to Woolwich being at least 45 minutes away! So double back to Greenwich and try there, just as bad. 15 minute wait for two trains in quick succession (4 minutes apart, both all stations).
Finally on the move again, at Charlton I overheard the station tannoy announce Woolwich Arsenal is closed and trains are not calling there, however there was no such announcement from the driver. I debated whether to bail at Dockyard (not the one in Plymouth) but stayed on and the train I was on did call at Arsenal- most likely the first one after the station reopened. I saw station staff finishing sweeping up the burnt material from the platform, which I think was from an advertising hoarding that self combusted!
It was no use rushing down to the DLR platforms, next Stratford International was 8 minutes away. So from arrival at Lewisham to DLR departure at Woolwich was virtaully an hour!!!
Connections from here on went well via Stratford and back via Poplar onto a Tower train- so doubled back Tower Gateway first then out to Shadwell for 1 minute change to finish at Bank.
