Random 15 Championship 2025/26: Round 2

[Capelblue]

We all met up outside Queens Park station for round 2, not a lot of room on the pavement there, but much amusement when it was noticed that the board in the station was showing that the next southbound train was 1087 minutes away at 6:30am on Sunday morning ! Fortunately this was a glitch and so on opening the envelope and spotting that there was no Kensal Green or Willesden Junction on the list we all headed down to the southbound platform where there was a train waiting. We passed through Maida Vale and Warwick Avenue - a few people got off here presumably to run to Royal Oak and onto Ravenscourt Park - but we stayed on, debating how to deal with the trio of Regent's Park, Finchley Road and Piccadilly Circus.

In the end we decided to double back at Regent's Park with Tangy and Rhys B, and changed onto the Jubilee line at Baker Street, and up to Finchley Road. Here we hopped onto a southbound Jubilee line train while the others went onto the Met line opposite, we thought they were trying to get one Jubilee line train ahead at Baker Street. We went through to Green Park and changed onto the Picc, up through Piccadilly Circus to Russell Square where we doubled back and bumped into Tangy on the southbound train. We all changed at Holborn onto the Central line, quickly going through Chancery Lane and St Paul's bringing up 9 stations done in just an hour. It was now that we realised that Tangy had not been to Piccadilly Circus and that we were a station up on him. We all headed through to Stratford where we got onto a Central line train and Tangy got onto the Elizabeth line to try and get ahead of us. We changed at Mile End, but there was a four minute wait so we thought he would succeed, but at Whitechapel he was on the platform as we pulled in.

Down to Monument and the new exit to the Northern line was closed so we had to go through a longer way, Tangy got ahead of us on the escalators but I was just close enough behind to be able to get my foot into the door, but I couldn't get the doors open so pulled my foot out thinking that was that, but the doors then reopened so we got on to also find Peter on there. We headed down through Borough to Oval and onto Stockwell where we all changed onto the Victoria line. At Victoria Tangy continued, but us and Peter got off, changed to the District line and despite a 4 minute delay at Hammersmith while an unwell passenger was helped we completed at Ravenscourt Park in a time of 2:14:23, also finding that Rhys J and James W were on the same train as us.

It was in many ways quite a clustered set of stations, yet with stations near all the extremities. One oddity of our route was that we never left the network, so presumably my oyster card statement will be full of question marks !

Thanks to Tangy for organising as usual.

[RJSRdg]

It was in many ways quite a clustered set of stations, yet with stations near all the extremities. One oddity of our route was that we never left the network, so presumably my oyster card statement will be full of question marks !

Same with my route, which was just as well as my Travelcard had demagnetised before we even started!

Remarkable that 16 minutes could make the difference between winning and being out of the points.

[greatkingrat]

My route was almost the same as Ian's, the difference being that I did Finchley Road before Regent's Park. I think I must have been a train up at Stratford, but after taking the Elizabeth line back to Whitechapel, the first train was a H&C, then 7 minutes to the next District, which brought us all back together.

[Rhys1995]

Yesterday's Random 15 write up through my eyes...

I trundled up to Queen's Park having finished my charity FNC via Premier Inn a mere couple of hours prior. Had to walk almost half a mile to find the nearest toilet too, should we ever start at Queen's Park again, word to the wise it's at Joe and the Juice. The clock struck 1230 and off we all went, thankfully the departure boards were incorrect and the next Bakerloo southbound service was NOT at 0630 the following morning. This would be kinda ideal for all of us as everyone headed south from Queen's Park. First up I decided to head to Baker Street and then head to Finchley Road. I decided to take the Jubilee Line as I didn't fancy running up the stairs as I was also unsure on the state of my legs. Arrived into Finchley Road and doubled back on the Met to Baker Street. I tried to keep up with Sacha and friend as we hammered our way to the Bakerloo Line again and somehow managed to, I realised I still had a bit left in the tank from the day before so I said 'game on then!' We headed southbound to Piccadilly Circus where the three of us alighted for the Piccadilly Line. Up to Russell Square and back again as far as Holborn and another foot race to the Central Line. Matching blow for blow I then realised James W was also nearby too.

We all headed to Stratford where it became a question of do you take the Elizabeth Line or the Central Line? I lost the others only to realise I was on the same Elizabeth Line service as JW. Off to Whitechapel where I'm pleased to report I remembered to get off here and actually take a tube from here, anyone who knows me knows why I say that. The next service was a H+C Line and then a 7 minute gap, so on I jumped as far as Aldgate East. I was wondering whether to run to Aldgate and get an earlier Circle Line service and JW had the same idea as me, I followed him up to Aldgate and then decided to continue onto Tower Hill. Ran onto a Wimbledon bound service departing from the bay platform so I knew I was up by one train, but where was JW? I hadn't seen him until we were half way between stations when he joined me at the front of the train. By this point I knew we would be on the same route until the end so it became a personal battle between the two of us to see if one could get ahead of the other, arriving into Monument we both realised the door positions are irrelevant for the time being, and then decided to run to Narnia and back to try and get on the Southbound Northern Line. I got onto the platform and couldn't see any other challengers so as I lined up to go south, I began to wonder if I was ahead.

Headed down to Stockwell to change for the Victoria Line, I started running the wrong way and saw JW again, so the dogfight began again, we raced up to the Victoria Line and onto the same train again. On our way to Victoria I wished him luck for one last run and said it was great having these foot races, we both shot off at Victoria and I gave whatever I had left. I jumped on a train heading west to then find it was a Wimbledon service, so I was up by one train but realised it would be nullified. Worth the effort though. I had a brain wave and decided to head down to South Kensington Piccadilly Line platforms in case I could get an earlier service up to Hammersmith, unfortunately there was a service just pulling out as I arrived onto the Westbound platform and then the next service was 2 minutes away, I decided to abandon ship and head back to the District Line platforms and lucky I did as the Richmond service the others were on was arriving. Jumped back on, got as far as Hammersmith where a passenger had to be removed from the train, cue a 4 minute delay and I wondered whether this would affect our finishing positions. Finished up at Ravenscourt Park along with 3 others, time of 2.14.30. Very well done to the others who joined me at the top of the podium, that was a fun one! I am now happily taking a couple of days to chill out which is much needed.

[miklcct]

The starting point was Queen's Park so it was not an immediate enter into the station, as a run to Brondesbury Park might be viable for some draws. However. When both Maida Vale and Warwick Avenue appeared on the sheet (and no Kensal Green or Willesden Junction), I entered the station completely not realising how hard I would have to fit Finchley Road later in the challenge.

Ravenscourt Park was an outlier, as was Stratford. To the north Finchley Road became a problem and to the South was Oval. It was a "now or never" decision to do Ravenscourt Park (as we started in the north west and it was the westernmost station) and I decided to do it now, so I boarded a southbound Bakerloo train at Queen's Park (1) (12:31:08), passed through Maida Vale (2) and got off at Warwick Avenue (3) (12:36:00).

I ran to Royal Oak and boarded a westbound Circle train (12:42:36) to Hammersmith (12:54:18), and ran to Ravenscourt Park (4), with two other challengers.

I then boarded an eastbound District train (13:03:13). The other two left me at Hammersmith for a Piccadilly train but I stayed on the train to Victoria (13:18:40). I changed to a southbound Victoria train (13:20:06) to Stockwell (13:25:13), then a northbound Northern train (13:29:02), passing through Oval (5) and Borough (6) to Bank (13:40:31), using an anti-clockwise route.

The existence of Monument (7) and Whitechapel (8), and some Central stations in parallel meant I had to take an eastbound District train and Central back, instead of using the speedy Jubilee line to go to Stratford. Unfortunately the first eastbound at Monument was a Circle train (13:44:21) so I made the Aldgate run (13:48:14), onto a District train at Aldgate East (13:54:18).

I changed at Mile End (13:59:53) for an eastbound Central train (14:00:57) to Stratford (9) (14:04:10) and doubled back, but congestion there made me missed a train. I boarded the next one (14:09:25), passed through St. Paul's (10) and Chancery Lane (11) and alighted at Holborn (14:26:16).

I changed to a northbound Piccadilly train (14:28:39) for a double back at Russell Square (12) (14:30:21), back onto a southbound train (14:32:35) to Piccadilly Circus (13) (14:38:10). By that time my Oyster journey time limit was due soon, not having enough time to make it to Finchley Road and I had to get out and in, forgetting to reset it at two previous OSIs (Bank / Monument and Aldgate / Aldgate East), then missed a northbound Bakerloo train after re-entering. I boarded the next train (14:44:41) via Regent's Park (14) to Baker Street (14:50:23), crossed to the opposite platform for a northbound Jubilee train (14:53:35) to complete the race at Finchley Road (15) (14:59:47), 2 hours 29 minutes and 47 seconds.

It ended up that the winning route all had Ravenscourt Park at the end despite fairly close to the start point, and Finchley Road was done with a double back, which I didn't even consider as it was a 5-minute journey between Baker Street and Finchley Road. I thought that there would be a speedy way back from Stratford but the need to use the tube at Whitechapel and St. Paul's meant that I had to use the Central line both ways, as the Elizabeth line wasn't included in this race. I once thought about finishing at Stratford but I couldn't fit Finchley Road into my route and couldn't handle it until the very end.

Here we hopped onto a southbound Jubilee line train while the others went onto the Met line opposite, we thought they were trying to get one Jubilee line train ahead at Baker Street.

It is never a good idea to swap from Metropolitan to Jubilee at Baker Street. Both take 5 and a half minute between Finchley Road and Baker Street.

[Sachef]

Managed to bring a friend along with me for this one (Joe) for an intriguing start at Queen's Park. Unlike Michael, we were never considering running to Brondesbury Park, but we did have an alternative route north, with a 4 minute connection between Kensal Green and Kensal Rise potentially able to put us on to the same train Michael was aiming for (but having ticked off Queen's Park). In any case, all of our planning was in vain, as Maida Vale and Warwick Avenue showed up, putting all of us on the same southbound train. Through those two to Baker Street (about half of the others bailing at Warwick Avenue for the Royal Oak run and opting to tick off Ravenscourt Park early, which ended up being slower largely through chance), where we hopped on a Jubilee line North with at least Rhys J and Milo to Finchley Road.

4 mins wait for a double back later, back to Baker Street on a Jubilee and through Regent's Park to Piccadilly Circus on the Bakerloo. Up to Russell Square where a great double back whisked us back to Holborn. Out east on the Central line through Chancery Lane and St Paul's, only to Bank in our case, where we had a complete disaster on the run to Monument (we should have gone via the DLR platforms), but still made a train up to Whitechapel. Another 4 mins until the Elizabeth Line to Stratford, where it all began to go wrong for us. The West Ham match meant that it took ages to run through to the Jubilee line, where it was extremely unclear which train was leaving first and very difficult to transfer between them (a train arrived, a huge crowd of people got off, and by the time it was possible to go to the train, they had sent it away empty).

The final part of the route at least was relatively uncomplicated. Round to London Bridge, down through Borough and Oval to Stockwell, up to Victoria and a quick hop on to the district (as the doors were closing) to Ravenscourt Park to finish in a time of 02:16:26. I continue my record of finishing 5th in all 4 of the events I've entered so far - a remarkable coincidence!

Thanks very much to Tangy for a great event.

[hopeful traveller]

At Queen’s Park I decided that, with (probably) only one direction in which to proceed, I would go barriers first, envelope second. A quick scan to see if Kensal Green or Willesden Junction were on the list - they weren’t - and I proceeded onto the Southbound Bakerloo along with, I think, everybody else. We then trundled along, through Maida Vale, and watched as various people got out at Warwick Avenue and Baker Street, but Tangy, Team Ian, and I continued on to Regent’s Park to double back there - the Bakerloo offering us a 4-minute wait! - before going up to Finchley Road, swapping to the Jubilee, and although we just missed one, there was another one queued up behind it.

There was some great door shenanigans fun here, as Tangy (as he later explained) thought that Jubilee Line trains had 8 cars, so when he saw “car 7” he thought it was the penultimate, not last, car to change at Finchley Road. As it’s a station I use very regularly I knew he was wrong, so whilst Team Ian were led astray by Tangy - going into the wrong car - I was in the right door position, and could hear a distinct shout of “oh that’s bloody awful!” from Tangy behind me as we pelted up the stairs at Finchley Road. Tangy and I got the Met back south, whilst Team Ian got the Jubilee back south (top tip: despite the two additional stops there is no time difference by line here, so the decision entirely should depend on where you want to go at Baker Street).

Tangy and I went separate-ish ways at Baker Street, Tangy to the Eastbound subsurface, myself to the Westbound. An interminable 5-minute wait later - as well as getting carved up by a District Line train at Edgware Road - and eventually I crawled down to Hammersmith. (In hindsight, this was a blunder, and I should have followed what some others did, doing Finchley Road before Regent’s Park, carrying on to Piccadilly Circus, and then out west.)

Jog across the road - I could see there was no District on the departure boards that necessitated sprinting - and see Richard Standing, who tells me we’ve missed a District Line train with several challengers on it some minutes ago - then to Ravenscourt Park, where I made the 0-minuter double-back. I didn’t hold the doors for Richard - hoping they would shut on him (mwahahaha) - but alas, he made it too. Richard swapped back to the Piccadilly at Hammersmith, I at Barons Court (hoping to throw Richard off the scent). A 2-minute wait later and the Piccadilly crawled back into town. Then we were regulated at Hyde Park Corner for several minutes. Ugh.

Things got worse at Piccadilly Circus as the ever-reliable Bakerloo offered up a 5-minute wait to go south. (Why I didn’t then decide to double back to the Piccadilly and go back to Green Park to use the Victoria Line is another blunder.) Once again, the Bakerloo lumbered down to Waterloo, where I swapped to the Northern Line, getting a sexy change, but just missing a Morden train at Kennington - luckily, one was queued up behind it. A 2-minute turnaround at Oval, and I rode the Northern through Borough up to King’s Cross St Pancras - unaware that Angel station was closed - and I swapped to the Piccadilly, met by a wall of Arsenal Women fans, and then squashed onto a Southbound service through Russell Square and down to Holborn.

The Holborn run gets worse every time, it always seems the escalators are 10 metres higher than they were last time, but nonetheless I did just make a Central Line train to take out Chancery Lane and St Paul's. Holborn, however, is nothing compared to Bank. What on earth has happened here!? Changing from Central to District now involves a run along the Northern and DLR platforms as well as a very long corridor (or three). I think I was running for around 5 minutes to the District Line - horrendous change, and there must be a better way of doing that.

Nevertheless the rest of the journey was fairly nondescript: Monument to Mile End via Whitechapel, wait 3 minutes, to Stratford, to stop the clock.

On the Slammersmith & Pity Line I had a chance to quickly “time” the route I had taken looking at the WTTs, which I had on my iPad to help out Rhys on his FNC on Friday. I cannot remember my theoretical finish time now exactly, but it was around the 2:20 mark, so I was around 20 minutes "down". I would love to see how the alternative route I have been sleeping on since Saturday (Baker St - Finchley Rd - Baker St - Piccadilly Circus - Hammersmith - Ravenscourt Park - Victoria - Stockwell, and then as per) would have fared.

Full route:
Queen’s Park - Regent’s Park - Baker Street - Finchley Road (Jub) - Baker Street (Met) - Hammersmith (Met) - Hammersmith (D&P) - Ravenscourt Park - Barons Court - Piccadilly Circus - Waterloo - Kennington - Oval - King’s Cross St Pancras - Holborn - Bank - Monument - Mile End - Stratford

[miklcct]

Btw, I am trying to run through the routes in my journey planner and I'm shocked that from Piccadilly Circus to Stratford, it is faster to change at Oxford Circus compared to Holborn by 1 to 2 minutes, at about 8.3 km/h walking speed.

It suggests that I need 2 minutes to change from Bakerloo to Central at Oxford Circus but 3 minutes from Piccadilly to Central at Holborn, while the Piccadilly is slow through Covent Garden.

The winning route should complete at about 14:46 (2 hours 16 minutes) and my route should complete at 14:53.

[Golf]

If you put any route in via TFL journey planner you get the worst results imaginable whomever is the designer or programmers should be shot!

[greatkingrat]

The WTT says 4.75 min Picc C - Holborn and 16.00 min Holborn - Stratford (20.75 min)
or 2.00 min Picc C - Oxford C and 19.25 min Oxford C - Stratford (21.25 min)

Not that it really matters in this case as we had to use the Piccadilly in order to visit Russell Square.

[miklcct]

If you put any route in via TFL journey planner you get the worst results imaginable whomever is the designer or programmers should be shot!

I am using an OpenTripPlanner based journey planner.

The WTT says 4.75 min Picc C - Holborn and 16.00 min Holborn - Stratford (20.75 min)
or 2.00 min Picc C - Oxford C and 19.25 min Oxford C - Stratford (21.25 min)

Not that it really matters in this case as we had to use the Piccadilly in order to visit Russell Square.

I'm referring to after Russell Square, you need to visit Piccadilly Circus, then travel to Stratford via the Central Line. Once you arrive Piccadilly Circus it is better to use the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus.

[Sachef]

I'm referring to after Russell Square, you need to visit Piccadilly Circus,

Would it not make more sense to visit Piccadilly Circus first, then go up to Russell Square before doubling back to Holborn?

Once you arrive Piccadilly Circus it is better to use the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus.

I'm not sure this is true once you factor in that you're already at the Piccadilly line platforms at Piccadilly Circus (setting aside the fact that I think going via Holborn is faster anyway).

[miklcct]

I'm referring to after Russell Square, you need to visit Piccadilly Circus,

Would it not make more sense to visit Piccadilly Circus first, then go up to Russell Square before doubling back to Holborn?

Sorry I was probably confused about what I was doing.

Once you arrive Piccadilly Circus it is better to use the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus.

I'm not sure this is true once you factor in that you're already at the Piccadilly line platforms at Piccadilly Circus (setting aside the fact that I think going via Holborn is faster anyway).

I wish I could enter the full route from Queen's Park to Ravenscourt Park including all change points into my journey planner to produce a timing, but it timed out because there is an issue in the backend that if any "via" points are specified in the search it is extremely slow, taking 9 times the time required for two successive searches.

[JamesWright]

Queen's Park
Bakerloo (via Maida Vale, Warwick Avenue) to Baker Street
Jubilee to Finchley Road
Metropolitan to Baker Street
Bakerloo (via Regent's Park) to Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly to Russell Square
Piccadilly to Holborn
Central (via Chancery Lane, St Paul's) to Stratford
Elizabeth to Whitechapel
Hammersmith & City to Aldgate East
Run to Tower Hill
District to Monument/Bank
Northern (via Borough, Oval) to Stockwell
Victoria to Victoria
District to Ravenscourt Park

The lack of Kensal Green or Willesden Junction in the envelope made it an easy decision to jump aboard the Bakerloo train waiting in the southbound platform at Queen's Park, with (I assume) the entire field. I had my route as listed above worked out before we got to Warwick Avenue, which was the point where the possible routes diverged. Not seeing any faster way of doing it, I expected many if not most competitors to be attempting the same route. That turned out to be the case, so the only possibility to get an advantage on anyone else would be making connections faster.

We had a 4-minute wait at Finchley Road for a Met service (the next Jubilee would have been preferable but it was another 2 or 3 minutes away), short waits at Baker Street and Piccadilly Circus, and a near-perfect connection at Russell Square. From Piccadilly Circus to Stratford I was only aware of Peter being nearby but Rhys must have been on the same trains as me too.

On the slow Central line service to Stratford I had plenty of time to consider whether I wanted the Central or Elizabeth line when heading back westbound, concluding that Elizabeth would be slightly faster. There was one in the platform when I got there so I boarded and took it to Whitechapel, where Rhys and I each had an escalator to ourselves as we raced to the District line platforms.

Only after I'd jumped on the first train did I realise that it was a Hammersmith & City line service, and the next District service was 6 minutes behind. I checked the timetable to see if there would be a convenient Circle service at Aldgate, but the next one was scheduled to be even behind that District service. Not wanting to stand around for six minutes, I planned to run to Aldgate, check the boards in case there was a delayed or off-timetable Circle service, and then run to Tower Hill, where in the worst case I would be able to get that following District train anyway.

The display at Aldgate said next Circle line train in 7 minutes so I kept on going, and at that moment noticed Rhys behind me running into Aldgate station. At Tower Hill I was right on time for a District line service that had terminated there, a possibility I hadn't even considered, so I felt the run was well worth it, and may even have won me first place. Unfortunately that's when I saw Rhys was also on the train with me.

We met at the front door for the run to the Northern line platforms, not realising that the passageway there is out of use until next year. Instead we ran down the corridor to the DLR platforms, which I was aware of but had never used before. While Rhys continued ahead to the escalator, I ran up the legacy staircases to the Northern line, but we both ended up on the same train.

After a quick turnaround at Stockwell we had one final connection to make at Victoria. Rhys got ahead of me, and was nowhere to be seen when I arrived at the platform, next train to Richmond in 3 minutes. A quick check on my phone showed the train ahead was Wimbledon-bound so nothing to worry about. I was just surprised not to spot him waiting on the platform at Earl's Court - turns out he'd changed at South Kensington instead.

Only at Ravenscourt Park did I discover there were actually 4 teams finishing on the same train, and there were some on the next train too. This must have been one of tightest Random 15 rounds ever.

However (slight moan here), can I request that finishers try to get back to the pub promptly. Several of us hung around for best part of 2 hours after finishing before people who had completed faster than us turned up. The sooner Tangy is able to tell us the results, the sooner we can get on with the darts!

Agreed, though for me it's the discussing of routes that we have to wait for.

Perhaps a future twist could be that the clock doesn't stop until you arrive at the pub?

[RJSRdg]

Only at Ravenscourt Park did I discover there were actually 4 teams finishing on the same train, and there were some on the next train too. This must have been one of tightest Random 15 rounds ever.

The tightest one I've been involved in was where pretty much everyone took the same route, with the main separator being that not everyone (myself included) made it across the pelican crossing at Royal Oak before the lights changed. Consequently I think everyone arrived at the same station on two consecutive trains!