How many ...?

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Going Underground
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Re: How many ...?

Post by Going Underground »

Tube Geek wrote: 06 Jun 2017, 15:47 All it takes is one major route change/extension for Guinness to reset the time and get a sudden boom

No chance that I or several other "veteran" challenges I have discussed this with will ever attempt a GWR criteria full network again....
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Re: How many ...?

Post by Tube Geek »

Well at least it gives the next generation a chance then
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Re: How many ...?

Post by ITFCShirts »

Interesting to read the views on this. I'm gearing up for my first FNC later this summer, and have found this forum both incredibly useful, but sometimes also a little impenetrable - regular shouts of "spoon feeding" to other newbies seemingly putting people off seeking advice.

And I get some of it. Route planning is a serious investment of time, and therefore record threatening routes are protective and secretive. I think that puts a lot of people off from both attempting and participating.

I would love to get some pearls of wisdom passed down from the seniors/legends of the forum, of things a FNC newbie should think of, from good shortcuts, common mistakes, stations that catch people out, convenient toilet/snack stops, how to beat the OSIs, or my personal bugbear - why all the TfL "live departure boards" online seem to lie.

In the mean time, I'll keep building up my running speed and stamina to try and make the difference when I make my August/September attempt on the record :)
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Re: How many ...?

Post by tufnellpark »

ITFCShirts wrote: 01 Jul 2017, 10:53 I would love to get some pearls of wisdom passed down from the seniors/legends of the forum, of things a FNC newbie should think of, from good shortcuts, common mistakes, stations that catch people out, convenient toilet/snack stops, how to beat the OSIs, or my personal bugbear - why all the TfL "live departure boards" online seem to lie.
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Practice all the door positions and subway runs.
Get a friend to provide lunch and dinner, so you don't get weighed down with supplies.
Drink is more important than food.
Convenient toilet stops are on C2C, Leytonstone, Woodford, Epping, East Finchley and Baker Street.
To break an Out of Station Interchange (OSI) on Oyster just go in, out and in the same barriers. Takes about 10 secs although the LU staff on duty might give you a funny look.
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Re: How many ...?

Post by andytube »

It's very much up to each man to work out his own route.
Then make a few trips to London to test your interchanges, etc.
That's what makes it fun.

I doubt the current record time will ever be broken, due to hardly anyone taking part these days, plus it would be a full-time job working out a record route, testing stations and shortcuts, needing to be a sub 3 hour marathon man and having amazing luck on the day.
Current best: 19:51:10 (2014). Hopefully that will be broken in 2018 :-)
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Re: How many ...?

Post by Steeevooo »

ITFCShirts wrote: 01 Jul 2017, 10:53 I would love to get some pearls of wisdom passed down from the seniors/legends of the forum, of things a FNC newbie should think of, from good shortcuts, common mistakes, stations that catch people out, convenient toilet/snack stops, how to beat the OSIs, or my personal bugbear - why all the TfL "live departure boards" online seem to lie
But this is what gets me - how do people think that we (though whether I should be classed as either a "senior" or a "legend" is up for debate!!) get these pearls of wisdom in the first place? How did we find the good shortcuts? By researching everything ourselves and finding them out! How did we find the common mistakes? By making them ourselves and learning from them! How did we ensure that we didn't get caught out by any stations? By endlessly planning, researching, checking, testing and visiting!

As for the live departure boards - I wouldn't ever trust them :D
Last edited by Steeevooo on 01 Jul 2017, 16:35, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How many ...?

Post by dstock17 »

I think ur a legend I'm a senior :D in regards to 3 hour marathon comment my fastest is 5h 04m go figure that out lol. and Steve right I have physically over the years walked and stood waiting for door positions.
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Re: How many ...?

Post by RJSRdg »

What might help drum up new entrants to the sport would be if the BBC could be persuaded to include coverage of one of the RND/SR/CiN runs as part of its telethons and maybe get a few celebrities involved? (I've often thought Jenson Button might like this sort of challenge).
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Re: How many ...?

Post by ITFCShirts »

I knew this might get some mixed responses :)

Tufnellpark - C2C toilets, great shout. For a man with the worlds weakest bladder, but the shout to stay hydrated, I've already been planning toilet stops with the tube map of toilets in stations (or mid run!). I never thought of the C2C trains, and no time wasted either!

Andy - it feels like a full time job now! Every spare moment invested in planning or running. Interesting to find the park run and marathon times for some of the GWR holders, and whether my 3:30 marathon time gives me any advantages. My route is looking to be 10-12miles of running throughout the day, and some of the sprints feel possible to jump ahead a train - if I can time a couple of them, I think they could really cut the time down.

Door positions - I've found 3D maps online for most underground stations and although I've not paid for it yet, the app for platform changes seems to be a decent investment. Although I do agree with Dstock and Steveooo that I'll be checking as many of them as possible in person before my attempt.

The departures boards are hugely frustrating. As a solo runner, I'm not going to have a team of spotters at my disposal, as it seems some past GWR attempts have had. Really makes it tough to try and keep a forward view ahead of the trains to be able to pivot on a couple of options.

On that point, how reliable have people experienced the WTTs matching to reality?

"Independent" Witnesses seem to be the biggest problem for me now!
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Re: How many ...?

Post by andytube »

If you can run a 3:30 marathon, then you're fit! I can remember being of that standard once, not that I ever did a full marathon.
When you've become a 17-stone fatty the wrong side of 40, then things are a little trickier!

Do you need to worry about witnesses? Unless you're confident of challenging the record.
Current best: 19:51:10 (2014). Hopefully that will be broken in 2018 :-)
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Re: How many ...?

Post by RJSRdg »

One thing I would say about 'pearls of wisdom' is to take a good look through past discussions on the Forum. Whilst there won't be any (or very few) where someone's said "Here's how I got the record!", there are plenty of snippets here and there about WTTs, toilets/eateries, buses, the Goblin, and routes from one line to another (some of which may not be immediately apparent). Write-ups of 'Alternative Challenges' can be useful too....

So, I guess I need to get my 16:44 challenge in before you do yours then... (fat chance of that!).

I'm sure we'll all be interested to hear how you get on with the latest Guinness Rules!
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Re: How many ...?

Post by andytube »

Going back to the first post, it is almost dead on here now.

How does one revive it?

How do we get those old forum members interested again?

How do we get plenty of new blood on here?
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Re: How many ...?

Post by tubeguru »

andytube wrote: 31 Jul 2017, 20:12 Going back to the first post, it is almost dead on here now.

How does one revive it?

How do we get those old forum members interested again?

How do we get plenty of new blood on here?
Do we need to? The forum exists for the people who do it, not as some kind of recruitment website ...
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Re: How many ...?

Post by Going Underground »

A GWR for the full network is dead in the water now with the criteria, I mean seriously an independent stop watch operator someone who is not known to you... They will start your watch at 0500hrs at Amersham and then keep it running all day and meet you at T5 at 2300hrs :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: How many ...?

Post by lellama »

If people like me are meant to be carrying on the community, we're sort of being shot down by Guinness before we try. Anyone have any ideas for some form of protest against their ridiculous criteria? An Independent monitoring board?
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