The "Laps of Soho" Challenge

[TheFatBuoy]

Right, I'll keep this short, but basically, here is a fact:

The area of Central London known as Soho is the area bound by Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street and Regent Street.

There is a tube station at each corner of this irregular four-sided shape of roads, with the exception of Cambridge Circus (Shaftesbury Ave/Charing Cross Road), where Leicester Square station is only around 200 metres away.

I propose a new challenge, the "Laps of Soho" challenge, which would consist of a comparison of times (no no, not a race, no no, not in the current climate, of course not) between participants, one group would aim to do a "Lap of Soho", i.e. do the loop of all four stations, and the other group would do the same thing above ground on foot.

The particpants doing the challenge on foot would, in the interests of making the two routes as near as possible, go up Coventry Street (assuming a Piccadilly Circus start), along the North side of Leicester Square, and up to Leicester Square station (by the Hippodrome), then up Charing Cross Road, along Oxford Street, and back down Regent Street to the finish.

The number of "laps" could be varied according to what people feel like, but running could get a bit knackering if it's too many.

I work it out as around 1.7 miles to do that route on foot, so for someone to average 8mph, that's 12 minutes 45 seconds. I don't know what the world record is for running a mile, but I think it's around 4 minutes, so if someone was to average that speed (15mph) for 1.7 miles, that would mean doing it in 6 minutes 48 seconds.

Ok, so tube would almost certainly win, but with a fit person running it, and a couple of missed changes, who knows?

A "standard challenge" could consist of one lap in each direction.

[standclearofthedoors]

Ow...

[CrunchySaviour]

No, one lap in one direction will suffice for the runners! LOL. I'm up for running it, yeah. Sounds good.

[TheFatBuoy]

Cool. Was talking to my brother about it - reckons he could *easily* beat it running. He can't be arsed to do it though.

I reckon it'll be quite a close-run thing though. The map showing times between stations (from the wall of mirrors that is Geoff's 'sillymaps' page) reckons on 2 minutes for all legs bar Leicester Square to TCR, which is 1 minute. I'd have thought Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square would also be only 1 minute, but hey ho - more people getting on/off I guess.

So that's 7 minutes - let's say all changes are done in 30 seconds with perfect connections - that's sub 9 minutes. The runners would need to average 11.33mph to equal that - equivalent to a mile in 5 1/2 minutes.

I'm also amazed that two whole people (and I swear to God I wasn't one of those votes) have agreed with the fact that I talk nothing but absolute sense! You guys.....

[greatkingrat]

9 minutes is not realistic for the tube. You would need to allow at least 2 minutes for each change by the time you get from one platform to the other and wait for the train. So I think it would take at least 13 minutes which is a more realistic 8mph.

However it will be difficult for the runners to keep to a steady speed as there will be lots of roads to cross and pedestrians to avoid.

To make it fairer I think the tube competitors should start on the street at the station entrance and have to return to street level at the end.

Maybe we could try it before the Z1 challenge this year? I'm taking the tube though as I think I would collapse halfway round if I tried to run it.

[TheFatBuoy]

9 minutes is not realistic for the tube. You would need to allow at least 2 minutes for each change by the time you get from one platform to the other and wait for the train. So I think it would take at least 13 minutes which is a more realistic 8mph.

Possibly, but with trains every 2 minutes in most places in the centre, there's at least a reasonable chance of not having to wait long for one, or even one being on the platform as you arrive. It's all just a question of travelling with ease!

However it will be difficult for the runners to keep to a steady speed as there will be lots of roads to cross and pedestrians to avoid.

Possibly, yes - it's a busy place, though they could use clever tactics and use the less busy side of the road, people-wise (almost certainly the East side of Charing Cross Road), and possibly utilise the middle of Oxford Street (*if* it's safe to do so - all buses stopped with people boarding etc.), similar situation for Regent Street. Ways and means, I guess.

To make it fairer I think the tube competitors should start on the street at the station entrance and have to return to street level at the end.

Good point.

Maybe we could try it before the Z1 challenge this year? I'm taking the tube though as I think I would collapse halfway round if I tried to run it.

Good call - who's up for it?

[CrunchySaviour]

Bad call. I have an exam that day and anyone trying this will be knackered for the Z1C. Do it right at the end of May/beginning of June.

[G Force]

The time of day at which this was done would make a huge difference to the runner(s) time. Pre-shopping hours the pavements are quite empty. But post 10-11am, they get a lot lot busier, which would considerably slow down the runner.

I would estimate a 13-14minute time at my running speed, (I can do a 10k in approx 55mins).