Random 15 Championship: Round 4

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tractakid
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by tractakid »

How wonderful to be back yesterday. R15s are so much fun! Planning and routing on the fly, mixed with exercise and unpredictability. Had such a good day!
*insert boasting about notable tube accomplishments here*
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greatkingrat
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by greatkingrat »

Anyone got a list of the stations selected?
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tractakid
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by tractakid »

Aldgate
Arsenal
Baker Street
Battersea Power Station
Belsize Park
Cannon Street
Marylebone
Mile End
Monument
Mornington Crescent
Nine Elms
Paddington (H&C)
Queensway
Regent's Park
St. John's Wood
Stepney Green
Stratford
Tottenham Court Road
Warwick Avenue
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RJSRdg
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by RJSRdg »

So, a week on - no results and no write ups!

How did everyone get on?
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EastActionWoman
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by EastActionWoman »

RJSRdg wrote: 02 Apr 2022, 10:55 So, a week on - no results and no write ups!

How did everyone get on?
I think everyone, apart from Tractakid had a very frustrating day due to a signal failure at Aldgate East. In the end I was just happy to finish inside the four-hour limit :D

Original plan had been to do BPSS -> Embankment -> Aldgate (on the Circle), walk to Aldgate East -> Mile End -> Stratford -> Queensway etc, but decided it was quite a way back again from Stratford, so went up to Tottenham Court Road -> Queensway and then did the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly bits before heading back down to Cannon Street. Had a 15 minute wait for an eastbound from there, so time to go to the loo, fill up my water bottle and have a sandwich. Aldgate East station was shuttered when I got there, so 205 to Bethnal Green, two minute wait for a District to Mile End and straight onto a Central to Stratford.

I'm hoping Hugo will be along to explain how his team did Stratford as their sixth station, but finished at Bethnal Green.
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Going Underground
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by Going Underground »

It was a mess problems all over the place. Myself and A2 had to leave the Central line at Bank run to Monument one stop to Canons Street and run back to Bank. At least two or three 12 minute waits and most of the other were 4 minutes. Deep joy to be back, forgotten how much fun it is :lol:
Twice former full network GWR holder and former Zone 1 Olympic and World Record holder with The Raven and Soupie
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Lunaticonthegrass
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by Lunaticonthegrass »

My first proper Random 15. (I did the Birmingham R15 just before lockdown but that doesn't count.) And there weren't even 15 stations!

Before the challenge, I wondered if 4 hours would be enough time to cover the extra 4 stations. However the live draw produced an easy set. There were cries of "we'll be in the pub by 3 o'clock" or similar, and general amusement when Nine Elms got drawn. What made this day challenging was the reliability of the lines. I found myself repeatedly met with long waits for trains, or throwing myself onto a train waiting in the platform only for it to sit there for ages before departing.

My route was BPS :arrow: TCR :arrow: Queensway :arrow: Lancaster Gate :arrow: (run) Paddington (H&C) :arrow: Royal Oak :arrow: (run) Warwick Avenue :arrow: Regent's Park :arrow: Baker Street :arrow: Swiss Cottage :arrow: (run) Belsize Park :arrow: Euston (Charing X branch) :arrow: Finsbury Park :arrow: Holborn :arrow: Bank :arrow: (run) Cannon Street :arrow: Aldgate :arrow: (bus) Whitechapel :arrow: Mile End :arrow: Stratford

Everyone departed BPS on the 12:40, with us all alighting one by one. My first major setback occurred at Paddington, where I had a 12 minute wait. If an eastbound train had come first I might have gotten that, but there was nothing showing on the departure board. I then had a 6 minute wait for an eastbound Bakerloo, and another 6 minute wait for one back westbound at Regent's park, during which I heard about 3 go past in the opposite direction.

Things went OK but not brilliantly for a while after that. I was held at Chancery Lane for so long that I forgot which direction the train was moving in. At Cannon Street I ran into Tractakid and we went to Aldgate together before running to Aldgate East. Arriving there we found that the station was closed due to signal failure. I found out which bus I needed to take to get to Whitechapel whilst Tractakid promptly vanished. At Whitechapel trains resumed, and I took an eastbound train out of the westbound platform to Mile End, then made it to Stratford without further problems.

Things learnt:
- Always have something to eat beforehand, or you will become very hungry.
- Take food and drink with you. Yes it's an extra thing to carry but it will be worth it, especially if it's unseasonably warm.
- Don't over-estimate the amount of running you can do, especially if it's unseasonably warm.
- Look closely at your door position app, or you will find yourself at the very back of the train when you should be at the very front.
- When running between stations, take a moment to make sure you run down the right road so you don't get lost and have to check Google Maps repeatedly
- When running within a station, pay close attention to the signs, or you will go to the wrong Victoria line platform at Euston, requiring a sudden run back up the set of escalators you've just come down.

As for how I did, and what happened to Tractakid, I'll leave for the official results...
Full Network (270 stations) - 18:22:43
Parks - 7:57:23
Alphabet - 5:30:40
Roads, Streets and Lanes - 3:51:51
Zone 1 - 3:03:50 (Former record)
Bottle - 1:57:43
1 pint in 18 seconds
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tangy
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by tangy »

Here follows the (delayed) results of round 4 of the 2019/20 Random 15 Championship held on Saturday 26th March 2022.

This was a normal round but with a live bucket draw and 19 stations to visit instead of the usual 15 in a nod to this being the first Random 15 post Covid 19.

The stations drawn out of a bucket using a raffle system were (in no particular order):
--Battersea Power station (start/meet up)
--Paddington (H&C)
--Aldgate
--Stratford
--St. John's Wood
--Nine Elms
--Warwick Avenue
--Mile End
--Marylebone
--Queensway
--Cannon Street
--Belsize Park
--Arsenal
--Stepney Green
--Monument
--Baker Street
--Tottenham Court Road
--Mornington Crescent
--Regents Park

We had 12 challengers split into 8 teams:

8th: Richard Graham- 04:14:23 at Paddington H&C
7th: Hugo Marrow (and friends)- 04:13:40 at Stepney Green
6th: Jenny Sherman- 03:42:20 at Stratford
5th: Andrew Baker and Kevin Brown- 03:21:50 at Queensway
4th: Tangy- 03:11:13 at Queensway
3rd: Damian & Izzy Cook- 03:04:33 at Stepney Green
2nd: James Ramsbottom- 02:58:46 at Stratford
1st: Andrew Chilcraft- 02:52:24 at Stratford

Due to 7th and 8th places being outside the stipulated 4 hour time limit for this challenge, the times stated will stand but will not gain points for the leaderboard.

The leaderboard after round 4 looks like this:

1st: Andrew Chilcraft (40 points) [4 rounds attended]
2nd: David Edwards (36) [3]
=3rd: Jenny Sherman (27) [4]
=3rd: Tangy (27) [4]
=5th: Kevin Brown (24) [4]
=5th: Hugo Marrow (24) [4]
7th: Clive Burgess (18) [2]
8th: Andrew Baker (17) [4]
=9th: Damian Cook (13) [2]
=9th: Izzy Cook (13) [2]
=11th: Alistair Brown (12) [1]
=11th: Rob Lomas (12) [3]
13th: James Ramsbottom (10) [1]
14th: Peter Smyth (9) [3]
15th: Matthew Cook (6) [1]
16th: Richard Graham (5) [4]
=17th: Alex Kneller (4) [1]
=17th: Kat Hopper (4) [1]
19th: Rhys Benjamin (3) [2]
=20th: Nick Gardner (1) [2]
=20th: Richard Standing (1) [2]
=22nd: David Gubbins (0) [1]
=22nd: Theo (0) [1]
=22nd: Michael Churchill (0) [1]
=22nd: Das Stevens (0) [1]

As mentioned to those challengers present at the pub the next round is to be held on the first Saturday in May i.e. Saturday 7th May 2022. it will be a twist round and will involve putting DLR stations into the mix...
Adjudicator of the Alternative Challenges and webmaster of the Tube Challenge "Top Times" website at www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubechallenge

This is a Central line train to "Woodford via Hainault"- sadly, not no more!

Tangy.
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Going Underground
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by Going Underground »

Round 5
Attending; GU
parkrun - Greenwich; GU (others are available for those not wanting to repeat)
Spoons - The Bankers Draft; GU
Twice former full network GWR holder and former Zone 1 Olympic and World Record holder with The Raven and Soupie
Tube personality of the year 2009
Twice Winter Olympic Biathlon Gold Medalist with The Beer Baron
2008 All Lines Olympic Gold
RJSRdg
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Re: Random 15 Championship: Round 4

Post by RJSRdg »

Just for clarification then, am I right in understanding that:

If a team/individual visits less than the full list of stations inside the time limit, but declares the time at which they reached the last station before the time limit, the time stands and counts for points.
But if they carry on and complete the challenge outside the time limit and declare that time, although it stands, no points are awarded?

If my understanding is correct, that sounds fair and reasonable (otherwise we could have people going several hours over the cut-off time in order to complete, and then having to get to the pub....). But just wanted to check.
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
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