TUBE 55 WORLD RECORD NO 6 NOT ACCORDING TO GUINNESS

[Steeevooo]

Hi Nigel, the attempt was on Thursday 21st May 2015.

[RJSRdg]

I wonder if Guinness would be interested/willing to "contract out" verification of future FNCs to one or more retired Tube Challengers - and whether there are any retired Challengers out there interested/willing to take it on?

[Steeevooo]

I would doubt it - having people who have a connection with tube challenge deciding the records fate would not make for very independent adjudication! The downside of course is that they really don't have the foggiest about what we do or what is actually involved.

[Going Underground]

Anyway this record will get beaten on 18th Sept on "The Cannon St" run "X"... I have a cracker of a route

[RJSRdg]

I would doubt it - having people who have a connection with tube challenge deciding the records fate would not make for very independent adjudication! The downside of course is that they really don't have the foggiest about what we do or what is actually involved.

I would have thought that most people who had "retired" long enough ago for their record to be broken and not to be too closely affiliated to the current batch of challengers would be impartial enough. (Though I can see it could be quite tempting for someone to come out of retirement if they saw a potential improvement to a submitted route!). Many sports have their records administered by their governing bodies - maybe we should have a governing body for Tube Challenging!

[tubeguru]

I would have thought that most people who had "retired" long enough ago for their record to be broken and not to be too closely affiliated to the current batch of challengers would be impartial enough. (Though I can see it could be quite tempting for someone to come out of retirement if they saw a potential improvement to a submitted route!). Many sports have their records administered by their governing bodies - maybe we should have a governing body for Tube Challenging!

Pass!

[A Challenge]

I would have thought that most people who had "retired" long enough ago for their record to be broken and not to be too closely affiliated to the current batch of challengers would be impartial enough. (Though I can see it could be quite tempting for someone to come out of retirement if they saw a potential improvement to a submitted route!). Many sports have their records administered by their governing bodies - maybe we should have a governing body for Tube Challenging!

perhaps now it really is time that we have our own list of records/adjudicator who confirms record times.

That is a very good idea. Who wants to do it?

[andytube]

Not been on here for a while, but that is an amazing time. Always believed that there was many more minutes that could be knocked off the record, mainly due to the fact that not many people attempt the challenge. And if more people did, then there would be more routes calculated. But sounds like you've got an unbeatable route now! 2 years in planning. Very dedicated. You know how to get 15:37 now, hope you're both going to have another crack at it soon and get Guiness to recognise it.

Going Underground - did your cracker of a route get you a good time?

[palkanetoijala31]

Not been on here for a while, but that is an amazing time. Always believed that there was many more minutes that could be knocked off the record, mainly due to the fact that not many people attempt the challenge. And if more people did, then there would be more routes calculated. But sounds like you've got an unbeatable route now! 2 years in planning. Very dedicated. You know how to get 15:37 now, hope you're both going to have another crack at it soon and get Guiness to recognise it.

Going Underground - did your cracker of a route get you a good time?

the attempt is still in arbitration with Guinness even if they do not ratify it Im am done with the tube challenge apart from attempts that will not be publicised written about etc. yes it took over 2 years to plan a route and for the arguments sake I have 18 drafts changes to it I still think its the best as I had over 9 different changes of routing to it. one of my changes is something I haven't used since tube 11.

the good thing is if this does get ratify it will never get shown on SHITTY WIKIPEDIA and I have the ups on them now as following their own guidelines for written content they ****** up!

[RJSRdg]

Bearing in mind that Mark Gawley theorised a minimum time of 15:18 and said it may well be higher, it's quite possible Andi's route is indeed the quickest practical route.

[Steeevooo]

After many weeks of inactivity, Andi and I have finally received a reply from Guinness in regard to our appeal, and IMO their response is potentially setting a dangerous precedent (for any record, not just the tube challenge). I quote below a passage of their reply:

you must produce a witness statement from a Transport professional (Official TFL employee. Network Analyst or Signal engineer (preferably), who has reviewed the applicants logbook to validate applicants claim that:

‘… if we have a timed photograph of station A (e.g. Redbridge) which agrees to the recordings in the log book, and then a timed photograph of station B (e.g. Barkingside) which also agrees to the log book, on the same train (as evidenced by the train number recorded), then the inference must be that the intervening stations (e.g. Gants Hill and Newbury Park in this example) have also been visited as per the log book entries.

The witness will have to verify that the logbook shows that, by inference, all stations must have been visited. And provide full details, i.e.” station A and station Z were visited on train number 11039, therefore the intermediate stations B, C, D [etc.] must have been visited.”

To me, this is essentially Guinness World Records asking Andi and myself to verify our own evidence, which would, in most procedures, be deemed a very big self-review risk. Of course, given that TfL do not endorse the Tube Challenge, nor actively wish to be seen to be encouraging it, then obtaining this additional witness statement is easier said than done, but still the fight continues...

[andytube]

Maybe you'll have to have a GoPro cam attached to yourself and film the whole thing! Just point it upwards when relieving yourself

[al]

I am (arguably) a "Transport Professional ", albeit not one of the preferred occupations, so am I therefore qualified to verify attempts.?

[RJSRdg]

Maybe you'll have to have a GoPro cam attached to yourself and film the whole thing! Just point it upwards when relieving yourself

Too late for Steve and Andi (as TfL only keep on-train CCTV footage for 72 hours) but as anyone travelling on the Tube has a right to request access to the data TfL holds on them, it would theoretically be possible for someone to do a FNC one day, then put a request in to TfL the next for all the video of their attempt! That said, I suspect TfL would get narked off pretty quickly if we all started doing that! (And TfL don't make it easy - they've 'forgotten' to add the link to the request form to their website! https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-an ... -your-data )

[Going Underground]

Going Underground - did your cracker of a route get you a good time?

18hrs 10mins 55secs for 267 stations (missed last T4 train by 10mins)