tubechallenge.com

Welcome to the 2022/23 Random 15 Championship. I am your host (commonly known to regulars as the BERC when I am hosting Random 15 challenges). The Random 15 challenge is just that, visit 15 randomly selected stations that feature on the Tube Map (usually within zones 1-2 and using the Underground network only). There will be certain rounds within the championship that are a variation of this such as adding an extra zone or network e.g. DLR onto the challenge. So are you ready to take on the Random 15 championship?

The rules and scoring are unchanged from previous seasons but if anyone is not familiar with them, or needs a refresh, you can view them here: http://www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubecha ... 5rules.htm

So let us announce the details for round 5.

When: Saturday 22nd April 2023, 12:30 DST start.
Pre challenge meet up: Blackfriars (LU/NR ticket hall north side of the river).
Post challenge meet up: The Bricklayers Arms, 31 Gresse Street W1T 1QS (off TCR, the road).
Variant: A twist I believe we have not used since 2015- the two envelope twist. Effectively two mini challenges in one as the 15 stations will be split into two envelopes. There will be 8 in envelope one and the other 7 in envelope two. Stations selected will be LU only, zones 1 & 2.
Time limit: 6 hours

Extra rules for "two envelope" twists:
Please note that ALL stations contained in envelope one MUST be visited before progressing onto envelope two. At your 8th station (i.e. the last station to visit in envelope one) you may open envelope two as soon as the train doors open, you do NOT need to alight the train (though you may do so if you wish). In addition your 8th station must only be arrived at by train- in order for the "transfer" between envelopes one and two to take place, as described above. Your stopwatch must continue counting between envelopes one and two and stopped as usual at your 15th station.

Line closures affecting the challenge: Correct at time of posting.
--Waterloo & City line: Usual planned weekend closure.

Other engineering work to be aware of:
--Thameslink: No trains between St. Pancras (low level) and Blackfriars/London Bridge. Sevenoaks via Catford Bridge trains diverted to Victoria and Sutton loop services cancelled.

Who's coming?

Is it not possible to arrive at station 8 on foot, then open the 2nd envelope once you have departed from station 8?

attending; GU
parkrun; GU (pending venue from Andrew C
spoons; GU (as above)

greatkingrat wrote: ↑07 Apr 2023, 13:52 Is it not possible to arrive at station 8 on foot, then open the 2nd envelope once you have departed from station 8?

When we did this twist in 2015 (my first R15), we started at Euston, and I made the mistake of running to Euston Square, so I hadn't made valid visit to Euston. When I had been to the other stations, I realised my mistake, so Euston became my Station 8, at which I opened the second envelope, leading to a very confusing (for Tangy) explanation of the route in the "Headmaster's Office".

attending; GU, A2, RJSRdg
parkrun; Hoblingwell GU, A2
spoons; The Sovereign of the Sea, Petts Wood, GU, A2

Write-up time.

First blunder of the day (pre-Challenge) was that I decided to catch the Circle/H&C to KXSP and catch Thameslink from there, having forgotten that (a) it's a much easier change at Farringdon and (b) that Thameslink was closed today. After fighting my way through the Underground ticket hall only to find the platforms closed, I decided instead to walk from St Pancras to Blackfriars and got there with about two minutes to spare!

From Blackfriars, went east with Kev, A2, Tangy, Ian and Nicky to Manument, down the stairs to Bonk (Northern Line) for the run down through London Bridge to Stockwell. Back up the Vic via Vauxhall to Green Park, where I left Kev and A2 (Tangy having bailed at London Bridge), up to Bond Street and one stop along the Central to Marble Arch. Double back with Ian and Michaela as far as Holborn, down through Covent Garden to Leicester Square and up the Northern through Mornington Crescent (getting some odd looks from my fellow passengers when I cheered at the announcement!) to Kentish Town. No sign of Iain and Michaela as I ran/walked to Kentish Town West, just missing an Overground, so a short wait for the next one (had I known that route better - first time I'd done it - I might well have made it). Along the OG to Brondesbury Park, down the hill to Queen's Park, good change on to the Bakerloo, on to Kilburn Park. All going pretty well so far.

Opened the second envelope at KP, no stations north of there on it, so carried on down on the same train to Edgware Road (Bakerloo), crossed the road to Edgware Road (Circle), round through Goldhawk Road to Hammersmith. Over the road quickly, then three blunders in quick succession:
1) Boarding a westbound District Line rather than an eastbound one
2) Not realising my error until Chiswick Park!
3) On realising my error, immediately jumping off the train and heading over to the other platform, when I should have stayed on to Acton Town and caught the Piccadilly back.
Probably cost me something of the order of 15-20 minutes in total, which was crucial.
Now going the right way, went over to Victoria and down to Brixton, where I sprinted over to the other platform, passing Tangy on the platform. As he wasn't running anywhere, I assumed he'd finished! The train was held for a few minutes, then we were back on our way up to Stockwell, then Kennington, up through Embankment. At Cannon Street the train was held for some time owing to a passenger taken ill on a preceding train (of course, if I hadn't blundered at Hammersmith, I would have avoided this). Along the Central Line through Holborn to Liverpool Street, over to the Subsurface. Next train was a Met, followed by a Circle, I wanted an H&C. So down to Aldgate, "run" to Aldgate East, District to Whitechapel, Overground to Highbury & Islington, Vic to Finzo and finishing at Manor House in 4:12:02, good enough for 7th place out of 8. In a closely-packed field, the errors after Hammersmith cost me dear.

Just the two of use today as the other Ian was away, there was an initial bit of stress when our brunch took longer than hoped and so it was a bit of a race from Goodge Street to Blackfriars, but we were pretty comfortably there in the end. Our strategy for the two envelope element was to complete the first as near to either Paddington or Stratford as possible (Elizabeth line for pace and several lines to choose from) We opened our envelopes, planned a quick route, avoided a mad moment where we considered going across the Bridge to London Bridge (wrong bridge and Blackfriars wouldn't have counted!), and headed down to the eastbound platform where we found Tangy, Kev, Andy and Richard waiting. The first train listed was 3 minutes but mysteriously another one pulled in straight away so we all jumped on and headed to Monument where we belted through the tunnels to Bank and the Northern Line. Tangy disappeared at London Bridge and the rest of us carried on to Stockwell for the change to the Vic. It was here that we found ourselves on our own as Kev, Andy and Richard boarded further up the train. We picked up Vauxhall and changed to the Central line at Oxford Circus, doing a quick double back at Marble Arch and then changing to the Piccadilly at Holborn. Passed through Covent Garden and then had a good change to the Northern line at Leicester Square (where we met Richard again) where after initally cursing as a train pulled out as we reached the platform, then were very happy as we realised it was an Edgware train and a High Barnet one was just a minute away. We passed through Mornington Crescent and reached Kentish Town, 7 stations done in a fraction over an hour, very nice thank you !

However, this was where our luck ran out for a bit, we were beautifully lined up for the cross tunnel, but the signs were geared for the other direction so we missed the tunnel to the southbound platform and found ourselves at the bottom of the stairs, turning round we found the platform and saw the train disappearing down the tunnel (we assumed (wrongly) with Richard on board). We had a 6 minute wait for the next train during which time we considered the overground but as we were both hot and sweaty from running we took the pragmatic approach and waited. We changed at Euston and took it easy to Euston Square where the platform was full of fans heading for Wembley, thankfully the first train was H&C so we were able to get to Baker Street and change to the Bakerloo line, which was slower than an asthmatic ant, and took 18 minutes to Kilburn Park itching to open the second envelope (envelope one was completed in 1 hour 47.

Opening the envelope on the platform we quickly scanned it to see if either Queens Park, Willesden Junction or West Hampstead were there, when they weren't we headed for the southbound platform bumping into Kev and Andy. We all got off at Edgware Road and raced for the other station, Andy trying to throw us a dummy, but we just about managed to not be fooled, entering the station we saw a train pulling out, but didn't have to wait too long and all headed for Hammersmith. We needed a quick pit stop in the shopping centre mystifying Kev and Andy !, and then boarded a Piccadilly line train as it was in the platform and changed at Green Park to the Victoria line and headed for Brixton, we got a slick double back, and got to the Northern line platform where Michaela quickly twigged that they were all Bank branch trains, so we got on the first and changed neatly at Kennington onto a Charing Cross branch train picking up Embankment before changing to the Central Line at Tottenham Court Road and picking up Holborn. We had a good change at Liverpool Street with a Hammersmith and City line train in the platform, but it was then held in the tunnels for ages before limping to Aldgate East where we got another good change doubling back, but then sat in the tunnels again. This probably proved critical as we planned to try the mainline from Moorgate to Finsbury Park, unfortunately when we got there the next train was 17 minutes away so we went to the Northern line, changed at Kings Cross to the Piccadilly line (where Michaela spotted Peter on the train as it pulled in), and so finished with Peter at Manor House in a time of 4:07.

The results of round 5 of the 2002/23 Random 15 Championship held on Saturday 22nd April 2023.

This was a twist round in that the 15 stations to be visited were split into 2 envelopes with 8 in envelope 1 and the remaining 7 in envelope 2. All stations in envelope 1 had to visited before progressing onto envelope 2. On the day of the draw, the random station generator program had broke down so I quickly tore up some raffle tickets into a plastic box and gave a randomly sorted list of stations (done in Excel) to my dad for him to note down the stations each drawn raffle ticket corresponded to.

Therefore the 15 stations were:

Envelope 1:
--Blackfriars (LU)
--Covent Garden
--Kilburn Park
--Marble Arch
--Kentish Town
--Mornington Crescent
--Vauxhall (LU)
--London Bridge (LU)

Envelope 2:
--Brixton (LU)
--Aldgate East
--Edgware Road (Circle)
--Holborn
--Embankment
--Manor House
--Goldhawk Road

There were 10 challengers in 8 teams:

8th: Richard Graham. Completed 12 stations in 4 hours- did not realise this was a twist round thus the time limit was 6 hours so stopped once 4 hours were up.
7th: Richard Standing - 04:12:02. Part 1 finish at Kilburn Park and part 2 at Manor House.
=5th: Peter Smyth - 04:07:00. Part 1 finish at Kilburn Park and part 2 finish at Manor House.
=5th: Ian McIntyre and Michaela Mrockova - 04:07:00. Part 1 finish at Kilburn Park and part 2 finish at Manor House.
4th: Vincent and Eric Karthaus - 03:58:10. Part 1 finish at Vauxhall and part 2 finish at Goldhawk Road.
3rd: Kevin Brown and Andrew Baker - 03:51:29. Part 1 finish at Kilburn Park and part 2 finish at Manor House.
2nd: Tangy - 03:41:36. Part 1 finish at Covent Garden and part 2 finish at Goldhawk Road.
1st: Andrew Chilcraft - 03:40:22. Part 1 finish at Kilburn Park and part 2 finish at Manor House.

The leaderboard after round 5 looks like this. For those who have attended all 5 rounds this season, I have indicated your worst score heading into round 6.

1st: Andrew Baker (45 points) [5 rounds attended] Worst score: 7
=2nd: Andrew Chilcraft (43) [5] Worst score: 4
=2nd: Kevin Brown (43) [5] Worst score: 6
4th: Vincent Karthaus (30) [4]
=5th: Tangy (29) [5] Worst score: 4
=5th: Peter Smyth (29) [4]
=7th: Jenny Sherman (26) [3]
=7th: James Ramsbottom (26) [3]
9th: Ian McIntyre (20) [4]
10th: Rhys Benjamin (16) [2]
11th: Ian Imrie (14) [2]
=12th: Eric Karthaus (13) [2]
=12th: Richard Standing (13) [3]
14th: Michaela Mrockova (12) [2]
15th: Das Stevens (10) [1]
16th: Matthew Cook (8) [1]
=16th: Damian Cook (6) [1]
=16th: Izzy Cook (6) [1]
=16th: Katrina (6) [1]
=20th: Andy JS (5) [2]
=20th: Roland Karthaus (5) [1]
=22nd: Rhys Jackson (3) [1]
=22nd: Nick Gardner (3) [1]
=22nd. Richard Graham (3) [2]
=25th: David JS (2) [1]
=25th: Rob Lomas (0) [1]
=27th: Robin (0) [1]
=27th: Beau (0) [1]

The final round of the season will take place on Saturday 3rd June 2023. Your last chance to gain points and boost your position on the leaderboard!

Tangy
The BERC.

Whoops. I just assumed the next round would be in the second week of May and hadn't bothered to check this page. And I was looking forward to doing the special envelope round. Shows you shouldn't make assumptions. Previously there always seemed to be a 2 month gap between the rounds and I thought that was a fixed thing. Stupid me.

3rd June is currently planned as a massive day of rail strikes. I know that date has been marked for the final round of the season for some time but I think we need to find another date (10th?).

Yes, I think rescheduling is a good idea. Keep Zone 1 on the Friday, but move the R15 to another Saturday in June. 3rd June is also the FA Cup Final which may make some parts of the network very busy.

ANDY_JS wrote: ↑03 May 2023, 20:25 Whoops. I just assumed the next round would be in the second week of May and hadn't bothered to check this page. And I was looking forward to doing the special envelope round. Shows you shouldn't make assumptions. Previously there always seemed to be a 2 month gap between the rounds and I thought that was a fixed thing. Stupid me.

As the Random 15 season usually runs from September to June (to avoid the high summer months), there cannot always be an even two month gap between the rounds. This means round 5 has to be shoehorned in giving a 5-6 week gap between rounds 4, 5 and 6.

For reference individual rounds in each season are normally held in September, November, January, March, April and June.

Is it remaining on the 3rd ? If it does move I would prefer the Zone 1 to move with it as I can get a hotel overnight between the two