Random 15 2011/2012 - Round Five - 14th April 2012

[The Raven]

The stations
South Kensington
Canary Wharf
King's Cross St. Pancreas
Bermondsey
Willesden Junction
Angel
Pimlico
Caledonian Road
Knightsbridge
Holloway Road
Oval
Kilburn
West Brompton
Stamford Brook
Belsize Park

We have a shock winner in the R15 with Myles winning!

The Results
1st Myles @ Kensal Green with 2:55:19
2nd Glen @ Stanford Brook with 2:56:25
3rd Nozza @ Canary Wharf with 3:13:05
4th Kev+Tom @ Stanford Brook 3:17:01
5th Tangy @ Knightsbridge 3:19:53
6th Al+Iain @ Knightsbridge 3:36:22
7th Rhys @ Belsize Park 3:55:38

I'll get the table sorted in the morning. May have cocked up the results so far!

[The Raven]

Holy crap! Iain hit a 180 in the darts!

[palkanetoijala31]

Holy crap! Iain hit a 180 in the darts!

no he didnt bloody hell thats two now!

[palkanetoijala31]

Myles won without being disqualified whats happening to the man first he completes the network now he wins a random 15 round i better start training at subways.

[palkanetoijala31]

It is strongly suspected that Subway in Kenton is what caused the bodily function that lead to my withdrawal from the 2009 Comic Relief Full Network.

It's true, it's damn true.

Congrats to Iain, there should be 180 jacket like what Kevin's club has, that'd be a wicked little trophy.

I remember Subway in kenton Support gets out to walk to kenton nifty double back at Preston Road approaching Northwick Park is there any trains arriving no none yet as we run past Subway as he is just leaving!

[Going Underground]

Its all true, Myles won this round and Iain hit a great 180 in The Champion of all pubs

A really enjoyable day, some varied challenging with a tough set of stations and the darts was superb with the top seeds only losing once all night in the final leg at The Angel

[Iain]

Great day out - really enjoyed the R15, thanks to Alastair for partnering me, and planning the route while I stuffed down the remainder of my lunch! I've only hit a 180 once before and that was in my late teens

Fall of the day award goes to HT - I didn't see the trip but he flew past me in the air about half way down the steps and landed near the bottom.

Myles appeared at the exit to South Ken and then disappeared, we thought he'd been drawn to the Subway on the other side of the station.

[hopeful traveller]

Fall of the day award goes to HT - I didn't see the trip but he flew past me in the air about half way down the steps and landed near the bottom.

Yes... I need to make up my mind whether to do 2 or 3 steps at a time, not 2.5!

Myles appeared at the exit to South Ken and then disappeared, we thought he'd been drawn to the Subway on the other side of the station.

We just couldn't find Ben's Cookies.

Since there's a station list above, my route was

South Kensington - Earl's Court - West Brompton - Earl's Court - Stamford Brook - Hammersmith - Hammersmith - Paddington - Paddington - Willesden Junction - West Hampstead - West Hampstead - Kilburn - Finchley Road - Baker Street - Green Park - Knightsbridge - Green Park - (Pimlico) - Stockwell - (Oval) - London Bridge - (Bermondsey) - Canary Wharf - Canada Water - Highbury & Islington - Finsbury Park - (Holloway Road) - (Caledonian Road) - King's Cross St. Pancras - Angel - Belsize Park.

Missed Knightsbridge at the start! It looked more dramatic than it was, that fall. Tangy was the only one who ran on regardless, but I caught up with Myles at Earl's Court. His dirty tactic of escalators (Standing in the middle of them) meant I couldn't get past but I overtook him on the inside of a left-hand corner. Annoyingly, he made the train too. Sweet double back at West Brompton but I decided to change to the Piccadilly line at Earl's Court to try and beat a train. Myles stayed on the District line. I changed at Hammersmith and as I got on the train, I saw Myles hurtling off it! I was therefore 1 ahead of him - but he caught back up at Stamford Brook. Later I found out Piccadilly line trains were stopping at Turnham Green and therefore I was stuffed as I doubled back at Stamford Brook.

At Hammersmith, I got held up by the lights and therefore was stuffed. I had to wait 6 minutes for a train to leave at Hammersmith and by the time I had got to Willesden Junction, I had done 4/15 stations.... in about 1.5 hours. At Willesden Junction I had the doors shut in my face by a man operating the doors (with a badge on labelled "conductor"). I had to wait 10 minutes for the next one. I got lost running between the two West Hampsteads, but made a northbound Jubilee Line train nonetheless. Doubled back at Kilburn but just missed a southbound so I hopped on the next one, 2 mins away, and then I totally messed up.

At Finchley Road, I thought about trying to beat the Jubilee Line train ahead of me as the next met line was 1 min away. Unfortunately that train got delayed, there was a queue for the escalator at Baker Street, and last (but not least) I was stopped for a ticket inspection by the BTP. Although I passed the assessment, I missed the train I was on! I had to wait 2 more minutes for another one! At Green Park I boarded a train to double back to Knightsbridge, literally tinned sardines. I ended up speaking French to lost tourists (Vous allez au Hyde Park Corner, non?) and saying "No hablo espanol" to lost Spanish tourists! Missed another train at Knightsbridge and another one at Green Park (2 and 1 min waits) but JUST made a Northern line train at Stockwell. At London Bridge I had an OK change (1 min wait) and the double back at Canary Wharf was very, very, very sexy.

The same cannot be said of LOROL. Taking me forever to travel up the ELL was further annoyed by the fact that a dog was barking the train to death. Waiting for 2 mins at Hoxton, 3 mins at Canonbury is not good enough; take note, LOROL. Highbury & Islington was a nice change, but nowhere near easy. Missed ANOTHER train at Finsbury Park, with a 6 minute wait!!

The rest was straightforward. 3:55:38.89

Scores on the doors (since I've been bothered to go through the old threads):

1 Andi 46 (3 wins)
2 Glen 46 (1 win)
3 Myles 40 (2 wins)
4 Peter 39 (1 win)
5 Kevin 34 (0 wins)
6 Tangy 25 (0 wins)
7 Al 17 (1 win)
8 Matt 12 (1 win)
9 James 12 (0 wins)
10 Rhys 9 (0 wins)
11 Nozza 8 (0 wins)
12 Tom 7 (0 wins)
13 Rich 6 (0 wins)
= Sam 6 (0 wins)
= Antony 6 (0 wins)
16 Iain 5 (0 wins)
17 Jay 4 (0 wins)

All of which means the Andi won't be "dropping a score", as such (he'll be dropping a 0 from this round) which means that:

Andi needs to come 6TH on 9 June to be champion.

Glen needs to WIN with Andi no higher than 7th.

Myles has an outside chance; he needs to WIN with Peter and Glen finishing no higher than 3rd and Andi finishing no higher than 10th. Myles would gain a net 8 points as he would drop his 4 from round 3.

It is possible for Peter as well: he needs to WIN with Andi 7th or lower and Glen not winning. If Glen ends up on the same train as Peter in this scenario then (need confirmation tie-breaking-wise) Peter & Glen would both have 51 and Andi on 50. Glen would win as he would have more fourth places, with the number of firsts, seconds and thirds being equal.

If the first scenario happens, then Andi will have 51 with an unassailable 3 wins.
If the second scenario happens, then Glen will have 51 and Andi will have 50.
If the third scenario happens, then Myles will have 48, Andi will have 3 wins with 47, Glen will have 2 4ths on 47 and Peter will have 1 4th on 47.
If the last scenario occurs then Peter would have 51, Andi would have 50, Glen would have 49.

Andi will do a betting pool, I assume...

Great day, great Bernie . I'm 65% certain on zone 1 (thanks Kev for reminding me) and 50% certain on R15 round 6.

[Iain]

I tried two stairs at once, didn't really get on with it, but then I've probably got bigger feet. I tend to do single steps but with quick feet movements. If I try two at a time I always feel like I lose control. Two at a time going up though unless it's towards the end of a day and I'm getting tired.

It was particularly interesting to do some unusual changes such as Green Park that I normally avoid like the plague on a full network. I need to look more at the overground stations and how they're near to underground ones. I'm wondering if there might be some interesting stuff possible for a full network, thus avoiding going into King's Cross more than once

[palkanetoijala31]

As per iain request I thought i would do a betting pool but i do it in a specific way that u can bet who gets 1st place 2nd place 3rd place etc championship positions thus far unless u are incorrect with the table.

For the Championship 4 main contenders obviously the smart money is on myself but worth a punt for glen or myles.

Andi 1/4
Glen 3/1
Myles 5/1
Peter 8/1

For the 2nd place

Glen 2/1
Myles 3/1
Peter 4/1
Kevin 6/1 (not quite sure whether kevin can claim 2nd or not?)
Andi 10/1

for the 3rd place

Peter 2/1
Myles 3/1
Glen 4/1
Kevin 5/1
Andi 20/1

for the 4th place

Peter 2/1
Myles 3/1
Glen 4/1
Kevin 4/1

for the 5th place

Kevin 2/1
Myles 5/1
Peter 6/1
Glen 8/1
Tangy 10/1

for the 6th Place

Tangy 1/5
kevin 8/1
Al 16/1

for the 7th place

Al 1/2
Tangy 7/1
Matt 8/1
James 8/1
Rhys 10/1
Nozza 12/1
iain 14/1
richie g 20/1

For the last place and wooden spoon

******** 1/20
Iain 3/1
Richie g 4/1
Rhys 4/1

[The Raven]

Thanks for hopeful traveller working out the table and how the championship could end up

My route
South Kensington Green Park Stockwell London Bridge Canary Wharf London Bridge King's Cross Holloway Road King's Cross Camden Town Hampstead Finchley Road Kilburn Blondesbury Kensal Rise Kensal Green Willesden Juction West Brompton Earl's Court Hammersmith Stamford Brook

Arrived at Victoria and after taking one look the almighty queue down to the Victoria line, I decided to walk to Hyde Park Corner and got the Picc to South Kensington. After arriving at South Kensington, eating lunch, having a sneaky pee in the Victoria and Albert museum, I met up with everyone in the fantastic sunshine.

I had some fantastic good luck on the first part of my route with a 3 minute wait at on the Northern line at King's Cross being the longest. Met up with Kev and Tom at Camden Town and had a nice chat with them up to Belsize Park. On the run from Hampstead to Finchley Road I found out that Kev isn't lying on how steep the Hampstead hill is! So glad I was going downhill!

My big cock-up was at Willesden Juction. First I got the door position on the Bakerloo completely wrong, then missed a upper level Overground by 10 sec, then missed a Bakerloo southbound by another 10 seconds! I decided to ignore the next Bakerloo southbound and head back up to upper level Overground and wait for the next Clapham Junction train. Mind you, I did help out a lot of Liverpool football fans by shouting out that "This train was going to Clapham Junction in 2mins"

The only other delay was at Earl's Court. When I arrived and their didn't seem to be any District trains going westbound so went downstairs and got a Picc to Hammersmith and then change there.

- This marks the first R15 where I didn't use a single bus, sorry Tangy!
- Big thumbs up to the London Overground guard who commentated on how good job I was doing as the impromptu announcer at Willesden Junction
- Big thumbs down to the old lady at Stockwell who stopped halfway down the stairs meaning that I went right into her . At least move to the side before stopping!

[Going Underground]

Seeing Kilburn I panicked about getting that done before the football finished, off course in hindsight I had at least 2 - 2 1/2 hours...

I teamed up with Tom and we decided that we would change at Green Park and worry about how we would do the rest of the route later on....

This is what we did South Ken Green Park Kilburn Brondesbury Willesden Junction (The plan here was to go to Queens Park and get the overground to Euston but we knew this would be around a 15 minute wait) So we "ummed and arred" Tom got on a Southbound Bakerloo but got off because I didn't. We then went North thinking about getting NR from Wembley Central to Euston but we didn't have the timetable so doubled back to Willesden Junction at Harlseden where again we found ourselves on the platforms considering an 8 minute wait for Overground train to West Brompton, in the end we got on the next Southbound Bakerloo to Queens Park and just made the Overground to Euston we had initially planned ) So continuing Euston Belsize Park (Via change at Camden Town, where we had a nice few mins with Glen and realised that he was way ahead of us ) double back Kings X Holloway Road - double back Kings X London Bridge Canary Wharf - double back London Bridge Stockwell Pimilico (where I said to Tom, "we have 15 mins to get to Clapham Junction for the next Overground service" neither of us thought we would make this) double back Vauxhall Clapham Junction, where a mad dash along the footbridge from a very high numbered platform to number 1 saw us just make the Overground West Brompton Earls Court - Picc Line Hammersmith Stamford Brook

A real "dogs dinner" of a route there were several better ways that we discussed on the final stations on the way round and fully expected to be last, so 4th was a pleasant surprise

[MylesHSG]

Great day again! Highlight being my amazing 10 minute Brondsbury - Kilburn - West Hampstead - Kilburn - Brondesbury. Was origonally going to go Brondesbury - Kilburn - West Hampstead LU - West Hampstead LOROL, but as I jumped on the train at Kilburn as the door closed (right at the front) I faced a long run all along to platform at West Hampstead LU. As I got off a northbound was pulling in so I jumped on that so I'd have a nice door position at Kilburn. Got off, and ran to Brondsbury to the sight of a NLL pulling in .

However the actions of my efforts (I really pushed myself, especially between Belsise Park and Hampstead Heath) I have woken up with an extremly painful right foot. Cant walk on it at all, so a trip to Northwick Park Hospital A+E may be in order today .

The trains for me yesterday were just amazing. I had about 6 or 7 times when the doors closed just behind me and lots of 1 minute waits. Nearly missed my stop at Stockwell, was day dreaming on a nearly empty train and almost went to Brixton. Also reminded myslef why I dont like London Bridge, that really did take a lot of effort! Kings Cross was surprisingly empty yesterday, a thought I believe Kev shares with me.

Oh and HT, I hope your OK! That did look like a nasty fall. Lucky it was only a small flight of stairs.

My darts could have been better, but I did hit several 57's and was in every final until we went to the Angel. The #1 seed winning every game (untill was it the last game we played?) was just unreal! Even with a 100 point lead and on a double the rest of the seeds coulldn't checkout!

Oh and Iain, congratulations on the 180, much deservered.

[MylesHSG]

No offence Matt, but I try and avoid the ELL on R15's now. Hence my decision to go back to London Bridge and go up the Northern to KGX taking out Angel. Just seems to take forever. Add into that, that a perfect Angel double back still takes almost 10 minutes made my decision easy.

[tangy]

I am of the opposite view to scrxisi whereas I do use the NLR to cut across between the various lines rather than double back. I believe that taking 9 minutes to travel up to a station only to spend 9 minutes coming back down is a waste of 9 minutes (or more depending on the wait for the train back), which is 9 minutes I could use elsewhere like running/taking NLL to another branch. Which, of course, features heavily in my routeings.

The amount of times I have done the Clapham Common- Clapham Junction transfer on R15s, I have lost count of. I must have done every single bus route there is between the two by now!!!