Random 15 Championship 2024/25: Round 3

[miklcct]

I think I saw Andrew again at Camden Town switching trains from the High Barnet branch to the Edgware branch after I did the Belsize Park double-back, while I was running out of the station for Camden Road, and that was the last moment I saw another challenger during the whole challenge.

Do you know the time you boarded the Mildmay line at Hampstead Heath? I want to compare the timing of double-backing back to Camden Town for Camden Road (which is an official interchange) v.s. running out at Belsize Park for Hampstead Heath for future reference. I am reading through old posts and I see there are many people running between Belsize Park and Hampstead Heath but I tend to avoid this run (due to the lift at Belsize Park and the fact that the station is on a hill) in favour of a Camden Town / Camden Road run.

P.S. I have noticed that Belsize Park has appeared in all 3 rounds this year.

I did not take many timings I am afraid, however, I do remeber an 8 min wait at Hampstead Heath, and I know that I arrived at H&I at around 1318z. And I also have a timestamp of a photo I took at Caledonian Road & B at 1317z (though my phone clock may be innacurate).

So that probably puts me on the 1231z service from Richmond to Stratford, which has me leaving Hampstead Heath at 1304z, though it was more likely 1305z as I recal the service being delayed by a tad.

I arrived Hackney at 13:14 on the Mildmay line so that definitely meant I was on an earlier train than you, probably the one 10 minutes before.

[RJSRdg]

With hindsight, a Camden Town to Camden Road change may have been preferable to the BP to HH one.

BP to HH is one of those unfortunate changes that manages to be uphill in both directions!

I suspect there's a slightly shorter route through the hospital somewhere but I've never done a recce to try to find it. I remember the first time I did the change there were quite a group of us, including Andi, Kev, and several others, all hobbling with injuries. I asked if there was a shortcut through the hospital and was told "Yes, but the state we're all in, if we go in there they may not let us out again!"

[ANDY_JS]

What does BERC stand for? I can't work it out but it's probably obvious. (Sorry to go off topic again).

Bernie Ecclestone of the Random 15 Championship

Thanks, I don't think I ever would have guessed that!

[penguin]

With hindsight, a Camden Town to Camden Road change may have been preferable to the BP to HH one.

BP to HH is one of those unfortunate changes that manages to be uphill in both directions!

I suspect there's a slightly shorter route through the hospital somewhere but I've never done a recce to try to find it. I remember the first time I did the change there were quite a group of us, including Andi, Kev, and several others, all hobbling with injuries. I asked if there was a shortcut through the hospital and was told "Yes, but the state we're all in, if we go in there they may not let us out again!"

Haha!

It is an annoying one, no matter how you cut the mustard. No escalators is also very annoying - either you tire yourself out on the stairs or waste time in the lift...

I'm aware of an alternative route round the other side of the hospital (turn right immediately after leaving BP station then cut through the car park on one of the corners) but I don't think it saves any hilliness. The rest of the hospital, from what I can tell on a map, is just one big building - do you think a hospital would really be OK with a bunch of tired nerds jogging through?

[tangy]

Here follows the results of round 3 of the 2024/25 Random 15 Championship held on Saturday 4th January 2025.

This was the National Rail twist round, therefore NR stations in zones 1 and 2 were added to the mix (including Overground and Crossrail as these are NR TOCs in their own right). The generator programme therefore gave us the following:

--Bond Street (meet up / start)
--Belsize Park
--Clapham High Street
--Waterloo (LU)
--Bromley-by-Bow
--Caledonian Road & Barnsbury
--Westminster
--Loughborough Junction
--Bermondsey
--Moorgate
--London Fields
--Elephant & Castle (LU)
--North Dulwich
--Euston Square
--South Bermondsey

We had a very high turnout of 30 challengers split into 20 teams.

20th: Emma Copeland and Susie Carter - 05:55:09 at Euston Square.
19th: Andy JS - 04:30:57 at South Bermondsey.
18th: James & Sam Beck - 04:16:50 at Westminster.
17th: Rhys Jackson - 04:16:12 at Bromley-by-Bow.
16th: Milo Ogidel - 04:15:48 at South Bermondsey.
15th: Andrew Baker and Kevin Brown - 04:11:17 at Bromley-by-Bow.
14th: Simon Hawthorn and Emily Pettitt - 04:00:53 at Bromley-by-Bow.
13th: James Ramsbottom - 03:59:29 at Bromley-by-Bow.
12th: Tangy - 03:45:25 at Caledonian Road & Barnsbury.
11th: Adam U and Michael D - 03:43:34 at Wandsworth Road.
10th: Michael Tsang - 03:34:31 at Elephant & Castle (NR).
=8th: Andrew Chilcraft - 03:32:53 at Bromley-by-Bow.
=8th: Rhys Benjamin - 03:32:53 at Bromley-by-Bow.
7th: Stephen Moore - 03:32:34 at Moorgate.
6th: Daxon Phillips, Nick Badley and Natt Rea - 03:23:18 at Clapham High Street.
5th: Team Ian - 03:22:17 at Bromley-by-Bow.
4th: Peter Smyth - 03:11:26 at Bromley-by-Bow.
3rd: Vincent Karthaus - 03:06:54 at London Fields.
=1st: Hugo Marrow, David Edwards and Richard Smith - 02:52:55 at Bromley-by-Bow.
=1st: James Wright - 02:52:55 at Bromley-by-Bow.

Therefore putting these results into the leaderboard gives us the following:

1st: Andrew Chilcraft (27 points) [3 rounds]
2nd: Peter Smyth (25) [3]
3rd: James Wright (24) [3]
4th: James Ramsbottom (17) [3]
5th: Hugo Marrow (12) [1]
=5th: David Edwards (12) [1]
=5th: Richard Smith (12) [1]
8th: Ian McIntyre (10) [3]
9th: Tangy (9) [3]
10th: Vincent Karthaus (8) [2]
=10th: Maudh Zeroual (8) [2]
12th: Glen Bryant (7) [1]
=12th: Kevin Brown (7) [2]
=12th: Andrew Baker (7) [3]
15th: Rhys Jackson (6) [2]
=15th: Ian Imrie (6) [1]
17th: Daxon Phillips (5) [1]
=17th: Nick Badley (5) [1]
=17th: Natt Rea (5) [1]
20th: Stephen Moore (4) [1]
=20th: Rhys Benjamin (4) [2]
22nd: Edward Hill (3) [1]
=22nd: Tom Hardy (3) [1]
=22nd: Josh Valdez (3) [1]
=22nd: Pascal (3) [1]
26th: Richard Standing (2) [1]
=26th: Milo Ogidel (2) [2]
27th: Michael Tsang (1) [1]
28th: Andy JS (0) [3]
=28th: David JS (0) [1]
=28th: Myles Swaine-Gray (0) [1]
=28th: Das Stevens (0) [1]
=28th: Adam U (0) [1]
=28th: Michael D (0) [1]
=28th: Simon Hawthorne (0) [1]
=28th: Emily Pettitt (0) [1]
=28th: James Beck (0) [1]
=28th: Sam Beck (0) [1]
=28th: Emma Copeland (0) [1]
=28th: Susie Carter (0) [1]

Thank you everyone for attending and taking part in this round. Round 4 is scheduled for the 8th March 2025. It will be a normal round but with a live bucket draw.

Tangy.
The BERC.

[The Orange One]

It's certainly been a while since my last Random 15, and it was good to be back - especially bringing a number of people along with me!! I've been collating a number of routes from our sector of challengers, so to summarise:

Emma and Susie's route (20th):

Bond Street Finchley Road (Jubilee) Finchley Road & Frognal (walk) Caledonian Road & Barnsbury (Mildmay) Camden Road (Mildmay) Camden Town (walk) Belsize Park (Northern) Moorgate (Northern) Liverpool Street (walk) London Fields (Weaver) Liverpool Street (Weaver) Whitechapel (Elizabeth) West Ham via Bromley-by-Bow (District) Westminster via Bermondsey (Jubilee) Waterloo (Jubilee) Kennington (Northern) Clapham North (Northern) Clapham High Street (walk) Queens Road Peckham (Windrush) North Dulwich (Southern) South Bermondsey (Southern) Queens Road Peckham (Southern) Denmark Hill (Windrush) Elephant and Castle (Thameslink) Loughborough Junction (Thameslink) Elephant and Castle (45 bus) King's Cross St Pancras (Northern) Euston Square (Met)

Simon and Emily's route (14th):

Bond Street London Bridge (Jubilee) via Westminster and Waterloo North Dulwich via South Bermondsey Loughborough Junction (bus) Elephant & Castle (Thameslink) Clapham North via Elephant and Castle (LU) Clapham High Street (foot) Clapham Junction (Windrush) Waterloo (SWR) Bermondsey (Jubilee) London Bridge (Jubilee) Moorgate (Northern) Euston Square (Met) Euston (walk) Belsize Park (Northern) Hampstead Heath (walk) Hackney Central (Mildmay) via Caledonian Road & Barnsbury London Fields (walk) Bethnal Green (Weaver) Whitechapel (walk) Bromley-by-Bow (District)

Adam and Michael's route (11th):

Bond Street Liverpool Street (Elizabeth) Moorgate (walk) Liverpool Street (Circle?) Hackney Downs (Weaver) via London Fields Hackney Central (foot) Hampstead Heath (Mildmay) via Caledonian Road and Barnsbury Belsize Park (1 bus) Euston (Northern) Euston Square (foot) West Ham (H&C) via Bromley-by-Bow Westminster (Jubilee) via Bermondsey and Waterloo London Bridge (Jubilee) Tulse Hill (Southern) via South Bermondsey and North Dulwich Elephant and Castle (Thameslink) via Loughborough Junction Clapham North (Northern) by changing to Elephant & Castle (LU) Clapham High Street (foot) Wandsworth Road (Windrush)

Daxon, Nick and Natt's route (6th):

Bond Street Liverpool Street (Elizabeth) Hackney Downs (Weaver) via London Fields Hackney Central (foot) Hampstead Heath (Mildmay) via Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Belsize Park (foot) Warren Street (Northern) Euston Square (foot) West Ham (H&C) via Moorgate and Bromley-by-Bow London Bridge (Jubilee) via Bermondsey Tulse Hill (Southern) via South Bermondsey and North Dulwich Elephant and Castle (Thameslink) via Loughborough Junction Waterloo (Bakerloo) via a change to Elephant and Castle (LU) Westminster (Jubilee) Waterloo (Jubilee) Clapham Junction (SWR - on an Arterio!!) Clapham High Street (foot)

My, Richard and David's route (1st):

Bond Street Bermondsey (Jubilee) via Westminster and Waterloo London Bridge (Jubilee) Tulse Hill (Southern) via South Bermondsey and North Dulwich Loughborough Junction (Thameslink) Denmark Hill (foot) Clapham High Street (Windrush) Clapham North (foot) King's Cross St Pancras via Elephant and Castle and Moorgate Euston Square (Met) Euston (foot) Belsize Park (Northern) Camden Town (Northern) Camden Road (leisurely stroll) Hackney Central (Mildmay) via Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Hackney Downs (foot) Cambridge Heath (Weaver) via London Fields Bethnal Green (foot) Mile End (Central) Bromley-by-Bow (H&C)

Don't have an elaborate story for the other teams, except:
- Emma and Susie have some choice words about the accessibility of the London Underground / various National Rail lines, but had a great time causing chaos everywhere
- Simon and Emily had some lovely walks through the city but missed Bermondsey from the list early on, which meant some mid-challenge replanning
- Adam and Michael would like a bigger pub please
- Daxon, Nick and Natt had an excellent run with no wait longer than 6 minutes, but are pretty sure they should've gone south first

Richard, David and I opened the envelope outside the Hanover Square entrance of Bond Street, and on the realisation that there were three Jubilee Line Extension stations on the list we ran off to the conventional tube entrance via the surface streets. After a bit of chaos trying to get through the Oxford Street crowds we were on a train heading south/eastbound to start planning our route, taking advantage of the useful 5G on the Jubilee line. A quick double back at Bermondsey later and we had a nice wander through London Bridge for a 12 minute interchange get to the 1301 Southern service to East Croydon, dropping by Greggs. One slight scare later (doors on the service didn't open until about 90 seconds before the train was due out!) and we were away on time, heading down through South Bermondsey and North Dulwich accompanied by Simon and Emily, with Peter S and James W tucked away somewhere else on the train.

Simon and Emily left us at North Dulwich, while the rest of us continued to Tulse Hill for a surprise 12L 1308 Thameslink to take us back north to Loughborough Junction! The early Thameslink made what would have been a difficult run to Denmark Hill more possible, so after a quick "hi/bye" to Simon and Emily at Loughborough Junction (they'd taken a bus from North Dulwich) we ran through Ruskin Park to Denmark Hill, accompanied by James W, making the 1337 Overground/Windrush service to Clapham High Street. Across to the tube station and it was then onto a Northern line service, to sit back and head towards the northern half of the map.

Calling at Elephant and Castle and Moorgate along the way, we elected to change at Kings Cross St Pancras for the Met line to Euston Square, leaving James W on the train. A short trip later and we were on the run over to Euston; a quick check of the boards in the tube ticket hall told us there was an Edgware service in 2 minutes on the Charing Cross branch platforms, so we headed there and got on that. Up to Belsize Park, and a smooth double back to Camden Town, before wandering over to Camden Road. (We might have made the 1432 service if we'd run, but it wouldn't have gotten us a train up at Hackney Downs, so we figured it would be easier for us to take our time/drop by the Costa and get the 1442.) Through Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, where we were rejoined by James W, then over to the Hackney Central/Hackney Downs corridor run to await the 1501 service towards London Fields. This turned up rammed with surprisingly quiet fans from the Tottenham/Newcastle game - the match had recently finished - but we were able to get to Cambridge Heath. The four of us were unable to shake each other on the way down to Bethnal Green, and a cross platform change at Mile End later we were stopping the clock at Bromley-by-Bow with a time of 02:52:55.

After deciding not to sit around and wait for people, we headed back to the pub via Whitechapel and XR, before settling in to wait for everyone else to show up...