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The rules and scoring are unchanged from previous seasons but as we are effectively carrying on the delayed 2019/20 season points gained from this round will be added onto the leaderboard from the first four rounds so all still to play for.

When: Saturday 7th May 12:30 UK local time.
Pre-challenge meet up point: Canary Wharf DLR (concourse beneath the platforms).
Variant: Twist round with the DLR making a long awaited return to the challenge, thus 15 LU & DLR stations with zones 1 and 2.
Time limit: 5 hours

As usual, post challenge darts and beer afterwards at The Bricklayers Arms, Gresse Street.

Closures affecting the challenge (correct at time of posting):
Central Line: Eastbound trains NOT stopping at East Acton.
District Line: Closed Tower Hill - Upminster
Hammersmith & City: No service
Northern Line: Closed Moorgate - Kennington via Bank
Piccadilly Line: Trains NOT stopping at South Kensington

Therefore Aldgate East, Borough, Whitechapel, Stepney Green, Bow Road and Bromley-by-Bow stations are closed and will be excluded from the draw.

Other engineering work to be aware of:
East London Line: Surrey Quays - Clapham Junction
South West: No trains via Putney. Buses Clapham Junction - Kew Bridge/Twickenham via Richmond.
Greater Anglia: No service Tottenham Hale - Stratford via Lea Bridge

Who am I expecting?

Attending: A2
Pub: A2

Parkrun (Greenwich): A2
Post parkrun pub breakfast (Wetherspoons - The Bankers Draft): A2

Attending: A2, GU
Pub: A2, GU

Parkrun (Greenwich): A2, GU
Post parkrun pub breakfast (Wetherspoons - The Bankers Draft): A2, GU

Sadly I will be in Belgium that weekend which means I will not be able to defend my title. Hope to get to the last round in June though!

Attending: A2, GU, EastActionWoman
Pub: A2, GU, EastActionWoman

Parkrun (Greenwich): A2, GU
Post parkrun pub breakfast (Wetherspoons - The Bankers Draft): A2, GU

Attending.

Attending: A2, GU, EastActionWoman, Myles
Pub: A2, GU, EastActionWoman, Myles

Parkrun (Greenwich): A2, GU
Post parkrun pub breakfast (Wetherspoons - The Bankers Draft): A2, GU

Attending: A2, GU, EastActionWoman, Myles (+1)
Pub: A2, GU, EastActionWoman, Myles (+1)

Parkrun (Greenwich): A2, GU
Post parkrun pub breakfast (Wetherspoons - The Bankers Draft): A2, GU

I'm sadly ruling myself out of this round as the deadline for my masters research project is this month and I've still got a fair bit of re-writing to do!

Jubilee line currently suspended between Finchley Road and Waterloo. I might be late.

Sorry for late notice - have realised I cannot attend due to examinations.

Well, it was good to be back, experiencing the exhilerations and frustrations of Challenging once again, and of course seeing some people I hadn't seen for some time...

Before I started, I decided two things:
1) As my knee and ankle had still been giving me some bother, I would not necessarily be running (although of course I did).
2) Still being a little wary of the Covid situation, where possible I would compromise door position in preference for travelling in a less busy carriage. (As it turned out, the majority of 'less busy carriages' turned out to be the right ones for door position anyway!)

As usual, I started off with another example of how not to do a Challenge - intending to go south, I accidentally boarded a northbound train at Canary Wharf (DLR) so had to bail out and change platforms at West India Quay. To compound the error, I let the first southbound train go, as it was terminating at Canary Wharf, before I realised that all trains calling southbound at WIQ do that. I of course then had to watch the connecting Lewisham service pass on the avoiding line and wait for the next Canary Wharf terminator. Fiftine minutes on the clock, and I was back at the start with no stations visited To quote Fulton McKay: "Not a very good start."

Caught the next Lewisham train, went down to Cutty Sark (as the station's underground, perhaps it would be better called 'Cutty Dark'!) and doubled back through Canary Wharf again, up through Poplar, Bow Church and Pudding Mill Lane to Stratford. An absence of activity at the low-level DLR platforms convinced me to attempt to run through Westfield to Stratford International, except that I got lost! Eventually I found my way to SI, bought a ticket and went down onto the platforms at 13:32, only to find that the next train was due at 13:47. At 13:46, we were told that the train was 7 minutes late owing to a signalling problem and was at Ebbsfleet. Eventually the service left SI at 15:58 (11 minutes late, so a 26 minute wait in all!). By now I felt any chance of coming anything other than last was gone and it was all about completion. (However that was pretty much what I'd agreed to myself at the start anyway!).

Arrived at St Pancras, Northern Line to Euston (LU), and down the Vic to Oxford Circus. Along the Central through Bond Street and Queensway to White City, and a quick jog down the road to Wood Lane where I had a six minute wait, in which time Myles and partner turned up and I realised there might still be more to play for. Hopped off the Circle Line train at Hammersmith (C, H&C) through the frontmost door, whilst Myles and partner got off at the door behind. I sprinted across the road to Hammersmith (D&P), just as the lights were changing to red, stranding the others on the far side. Down the stairs, a Piccadilly Line train was just pulling in, which I caught but the others missed. Up the escalator and stairs at Earl's Court to find an Edgware Road train in the platform - for once things were starting to work nicely! It wasn't to last, as approaching High Street Kensington, a Circle Line train was already heading south. Consequently I caught the District there for the doubleback to Earl's Court, and back down the Picc for the run to Knightsbridge. With Piccadilly Line trains not stopping at South Kensington, I opted not to go back to Gloucester Road, but instead head to Sloane Square above ground. A 'New Bus for London' was waiting on Sloane Street, as I drew level with the front of it, the driver closed the front doors, but noticed me and reopened them. (Of course, had the bus been operated as it was originally intended to, I would have got on at the rear with time to spare). Down to Sloane Square and a run across the square itself to the underground station. Across to Embankment via Westminster, down the Northern Line (a Mordern train had just pulled in) to Stockwell and down to Brixton for a completion in 3:16:25 but could have been so much better had it not been for my early mistakes and the long wait at Stratford International.

Upon opening the envelope and seeing multiple stations on the Stratford DLR line decided to head up there and make plans during the trip.

Unfortunately with Cutty Sark being at the bottom of the list if I'd have taken a minute to think I probably would have gone south, but anyway, took a Stratford DLR up to Pudding Mill Lane and changed platforms and our second longest wait of the day 5 minutes for the next Canary Wharf service. A quick change at Canary Wharf onto a Lewisham service. Worked out that we could hopefully make a 1 minute connection at Greenwich onto a Thameslink train, but unfortunately missed it by about 5 seconds. 10 minutes until a Cannon Street Southeastern! As we were pulling into London Bridge I realised a Thameslink train from Brighton was running 4 minutes late and would be a perfect connection, weighing up my options and wanting to get Euston done I decided to do that instead of going into Cannon Street.

Though the core and up to St. Pancras onto a southbound Victoria line though to Oxford Circus. Westbound onto a central line train to Notting Hill Gate, a very favorable HSK double back and we were on the central line again heading towards White City. A short jog down past television centre and a 2 minute wait for a Hammersmith bound circle line train. Got caught up at a very busy Hammersmith crossing so wasn't a great connection onto the eastbound Piccadilly. A Knightsbridge double back to Gloucester Road (I would have probably run/bussed to Sloane Square if not for my novice partner Molly). A short wait for an Eastbound district line at Gloucester Road up to Westminster. Headed back to Victoria and then finally down to Brixton to finish in a time of 3:14:53.

The results of round 5 of the 2019/20 Random 15 Championship held on Saturday 7th May 2022.

This was a twist round and the twist was to simply include DLR stations in zones 1/2 to a "normal " round. Thus the generator programme gave us the following:

--Canary Wharf (DLR) [meet up/start]
--Pudding Mill Lane
--Hammersmith (DP)
--Poplar
--Euston (LU)
--High Street Ken
--Knightsbridge
--Cutty Sark
--Bow Church
--Queensway
--Westminster
--Bond Street
--Sloane Square
--Wood Lane
--Brixton (LU)

There were 9 challengers split into 7 teams:

7th: Richard Standing- 03:16:25 at Brixton
6th: Myles and Molly- 03:14:53 at Brixton
=4th: Andrew Chilcraft- 02:53:42 at Brixton
=4th: Richard Graham- 02:53:42 at Brixton
3rd: Jenny Sherman- 02:46:27 at Brixton
2nd: Andrew Baker and Kevin Brown- 02:45:20 at Wood Lane
1st: Hugo Marrow and Tangy- 02:42:10 at Bond Street

Therefore putting these results into the leaderboard:

1st: Andrew Chilcraft (47 points) [5 rounds attended]
2nd: Tangy (39) [5]
=3rd: David Edwards (36) [3]
=3rd: Hugo Marrow (36) [5]
5th: Jenny Sherman (35) [5]
6th: Kevin Brown (34) [5]
7th: Andrew Baker (27) [5]
8th: Clive Burgess (18) [2]
=9th: Damian Cook (13) [2]
=9th: Izzy Cook (13) [2]
=11th: Alistair Brown (12) [1]
=11th: Rob Lomas (12) [3]
=11th: Richard Graham (12) [5]
14th: James Ramsbottom (10) [1]
15th: Peter Smyth (9) [3]
16th: Matthew Cook (6) [1]
=17th: Myles Swaine-Gray (5) [1]
=17th: Molly (5) [1]
=17th: Richard Standing (5) [3]
=20th: Alex Kneller (4) [1]
=20th: Kat Hopper (4) [1]
22nd: Rhys Benjamin (3) [2]
23rd: Nick Gardner (1) [2]
=24th: David Gubbins (0) [1]
=24th: Theo (0) [1]
=24th: Michael Churchill (0) [1]
=24th: Das Stevens (0) [1]

The sixth and final round of the championship will be held on Saturday 11th June 2022. The leaderboard is very tight at the top for the podium positions so all still to play for.