Zone 1 Challenge Cup 2024- Friday 31st May

[RobbieM]

Hoping to be there tomorrow, knee permitting!

Your knee, my hip, ankle etc. Age is a wonderful thing…

As long as I complete the 67 within 4 hours I’ll deem it a personal success.

Here’s to tomorrow!

[Oggm]

And courtesy of David, the starting station is:

BOROUGH

[RobbieM]

'Twas an excellent day; will write up more when I get chance soon.

[RobbieM]

Here's the account of team Portaloo and Shitty for Zone 1 Day 2024:

Borough London Bridge Waterloo Battersea Power Station Nine Elms (bus) Vauxhall Victoria Sloane Square Aldgate East (walk) Aldgate Liverpool St Chancery Lane (walk) Farringdon Moorgate Kings Cross St Pancras (via Angel) Earl's Court Bayswater (walk) Queensway Tottenham Court Road Euston (walk) Euston Square Paddington Bishop's Rd (walk) Paddington Praed St Elephant and Castle.

Total Time: 3h 19m 47s.

Highlights:
• Just completing. I wasn’t sure my body was going to make it when I left home.
• Not coming last.
• Introducing Stephen to Tube Challenging.
• Seeing his gobsmacked face when he witnessed the first ‘mass challenger dash’ at London Bridge.
• Arriving to the Picc line just as a long, long wait for other passengers on the platform was coming to an end.
• The Five Guys between Bayswater and Queensway having an accessible loo which could be quickly used with a Radar key.
• Good company at the start, around the race, and at the pub. And seeing a level of interest in the almost-forgotten Overreactive Challenge.
• Meeting several new folks who I’d only known as ‘on-line names’ until the day.

Lowlights:
• Realising too late that we could have maybe shaved a few minutes off by doing E&C and Lambeth North earlier on the way to Battersea, and finishing at Charing Cross. (EDIT: Though the more I think about this, I’m not sure it would actually have been quicker…)
• Losing the quiz by just one mark.

So the highlights far outweighed the lowlights. A fabulous day. Thank you Tangy, and well done, one and all!

[RJSRdg]

Robbie - it seems I just pipped you (twice!).

Starting from Borough, I headed north with Kev, Andi, Tangi, Nozza+1 and a few others. We all changed to the Jubilee at London Bridge and I gave chase along the travellators but took the Northern Line where I think everyone else took the Bakerloo. Up to Warren Street, which was a more convoluted change than I thought, and up the Vic to KXSP. First Off The Tube let me down here by sending me to the lift and the long corridor to the Piccadilly Line rather than the short staircase at the other end of the platform. Down the Picc to Earl's Court and a short 3 minute wait for a Wimbleware to Bayswater for the first OSI of the afternoon to Queensway. I'd just got my running rhythm going when suddenly my left ankle gave way about halfway between the two stations, disappointingly as it was both the first and shortest run of the day. Walked the rest of the way to Queensway, Central to Oxford Circus and up the Bakerkhazi to Paddington (Praed Street). New entrance still not open, but the link corridor was surprisingly clear and I was soon in the main line station. Attempted to run the length of the nearest platform but my ankle still wasn't happy and I contemplated bailing out but decided to continue. On the approach to Bishop's Road I thought I saw one of the other competitors but he didn't recognise me. We both caught the H&C eastbound, he got off at Baker Street, I carried on to KXSP and this time changed to the Northern and went round to Moorgate. Back to Farringdon, where FOTT let me down again by sending me to the wrong exit (which was closed!) so the walk to Chancery Lane was longer than it should have been, but straight on to a train there and over to Liverpool Street. Met to Aldgate and semi-run to Aldgate East. 3 minute wait for a District round to Sloane Square, doubled back to Victoria, down to Vauxhall. Short wait for a 156 to Battersea Power Station and brisk progress until stopped at the last set of traffic lights for some time. When the lights did change, I think the driver must have stalled the engine as some time elapsed before the bus set off and I thought they were going to change back. Down the escalators at BPS, next train in three minutes. Up to Kennington, change for Heffalump and Castle and up the Bakerkhazi again to finish at Lambeth Nort in 3:16:43. Despite my infirmity I knocked 9 minutes off my previous Personal Best, mainly due to never having to wait more than a couple of minutes at each change. Got to the pub to find that of the competitors only James and Andi had got there before me.

As I had to leave before the full results were announced, I'm not yet aware of what my final placing was.

[Oggm]

As it turns out I used the identical route to Robbie, which we speculated would not happen, but allas twas an enjoyable day. My route, and its specific moments were thus:

Northern to Bridge, Jubilee to Waterloo, running through the travelators, with Tangy screaming something like 'No running, its an emergency!', I took the Northern down to BPS, for a double back with a few others. After eyeing up which escalator was the up escalator when I went through Nine Elms on the way, I decided to run all the way through to Vauxhall, which would have payed of, appart from the fact that many others joined us back on the platfrom 30 seconds later, completely fresh after using the bus. We all made it to Victoria togerther pretty much, but this was where I lost mostly everyone (including my teammate who eventually withdrew) with a sprint along the winding corridors, onto the w/b sub-surface, double backing at SS with one other, we made our way to Aldgate, after gambling to stay on the circle. 3:1 or 4:2 was the question at Aldgate, I simply chose the door which was closest to me. Sprinting to Aldgate East, I almost went towards the e/b platform, but managed to slide into a H&C waiting for me on the platform, but a rotten twist of luck left me waiting 2 mins for it to depart, and waiting 4 mins in the tunnel, gambling to take the next district to Aldgate East may have been faster, sigh. Central to Chancery Lane, exit 2, run to Farringdon, 2 min wait on the plaform, at this moment loosing everyone. Heading to KXX via Moorgate was uneventfull. Heading to the Picc line plaforms at KXX I knew I had to be fast, Severe delays w/b between KXX and Acton Town seemingly existed, but not for me, straight onto a direct train to Earl's Court, where I banged my head on a metal gate. So I ran up the stairs, just to see an Edgware Rd train pull up, but wait for 1 min with its doors open, and what seemed to be annother 1 min with its doors closed, until it started moving. Down the gentle hill between Bayswater and Queensway, and down the spiral staircase on which I twisted my right foot, and was forced to walk down, narrowly missing the train, and having to wait 2 mins for the next e/b. After massaging my right foot, I felt ready to tackle TCR straight onto a n/b Northern line. Euston to its Square was uneventfull, apart from mistakenly opting to use the stairs, instead of the escallator, and having to wait 4 mins for the next Hammersmith train. I met Tangy on the Paddington run, and stupidly paused to pick up my pen which I dropped on the excallator. A 2 min wait for the Bakerloo line, thankfully going direct, and all the way to Elephant, where I stopped my stopwatch at 02:57.01, quite supprised at the time, so I spent about 5 mins analysing my route, proving to myself that I had missed something, but alas, I had not.

Looking at my delays, and my relative infamilarity with the route/OSIs, I am certain that a theoretical perfect of 02:45.00 is possible, but just, with with a BPS, Vauxhall, or Knightsbridge start.

And Walthamstow Central doesn't have a toilet as advertised on the tube map!

Thank you to Tangy for organising and making it all happen.

[tangy]

The results of the Zone 1 Challenge Cup 2024 held on Friday 31st May 2024.

The start station was Borough- as chosen by David JS

There were 17 challengers split into 12 teams.

12th: Andy JS- 03:55:31 at Battersea Power Station (no team name submitted).
11th: "Solo Enthusiast" (Muadh Zeroual)- 03:35:02 at Paddington (Bishop's Road).
10th: "Hull Yeah Borough, That was Morden a Challenge" (Kevin Brown, Damian & Izzy Cook)- 03:31:59 at Battersea Power Station.
9th: "It's not a Second but Seven Minutes Away" (Tangy)- 03:23:13 at Charing Cross.
8th: "Rotten Borough: Kier Gardens or Rishimond?" (Ian McIntyre and Ian Imrie)- 03:23:07 at London Bridge.
7th: "Portaloo & Shitty" (Rob Mansell and Stephen Pointer)- 03:19:47 at Elephant & Castle.
6th: "ChippenHammersmith" (Leonard House and Lucy Angell)- 03:19:32 at Battersea Power Station.
5th: Richard Standing- 03:17:43 at Lambeth North (no team name submitted).
4th: "Oxford Tube" (Lewis Nagle)- 03:07:06 at Charing Cross.
3rd: "Barbicanheimer" (James Ramsbottom)- 03:01:59 at St. Paul's.
2nd: "Been on Rail Overground Underground Goodge Hell" (Andi James)- 02:57:11 at Russell Square.
1st: "Barb and my Connector Blob" (Milo Ogidel)- 02:57:01 at Elephant & Castle. NEW ZONE 1 WORLD RECORD.

Best team name was judged as "Oxford Tube" by Lewis Nagle.

Best score in the quiz was 36/50 by Richard Standing.

Thank you all for attending and hopefully see you again next year!

Tangy.
The BOZO (Boss of Zone One).

[EastActionWoman]

Loving the write ups - keep em coming guys please!

And Walthamstow Central doesn't have a toilet as advertised on the tube map!

Toilet tube map is way out of date. Here's the latest list TfL published in September last year - also out of date as the infrastructure continues to break down:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/enhanced-cus ... mation.pdf

[Golf]

Well firstly it was me not tangy shouting down the corridor at waterloo OGGM (milo)

Struggling with a left hamstring problem that defo has curtailed my running pace for last couple of weeks i started off with a few others going NORTHBOUND to london bridge minding any pain twinges that i did not need for next day.

after changing my running style to avoid the weight being loaded on left leg i kept up with most of the challenges and even tangy whom i was with for the 1st hour before he changed his route (swearing tirade later in pub but i leave that for him to describe lol) after waterloo i did decide to take out LAMBETH NORTH instead which we didnt have a great connection at KENNINGTON to BATTERSEA but caught the bus 344 something i have never do in a challenge with 2 others to VAUXHALL doing the same as most others going to ALDGATE EAST running to ALDGATE instead doing my prefered FARRINGDON to CHANCERY LANE run then changing at BANK for the northern line to EUSTON (tangy changed at KINGS X for the piccadilly which had delays and probably regrets it) next in was a leisurely one to take out CHARING CROSS something our illustrious BOZO had almost forgot.

i cant remember ever taking the change at CHARING CROSS from NORTHERN to BAKERLOO for years But i remember it was a long corridor run and then head NORTHBOUND with for a tube challenge full network the perfect train a H&W but only to PADDINGTON to change for the long run to the h&c platforms a 2minute wait there which wasnt too bad gave me a chance to catch my breath and work out i could do EUSTON SQUARE to warren street run with the door position at OXFORD CIRCUS to get me on the CENTRAL Line out WESTBOUND arriving at the platform another full network perfect a WEST RUISLIP train after that it was plain sailing seeing stupid DORTMUND fans not walking from LANCASTER GATE to PADDINGTON when will they learn

a quick lift up to ground level a nice downhill run where i joined another tube challenger whom was waiting for 2 minutes me barely 30 secs changed at EARLS court for my last connection up to RUSSELL SQUARE knew i was getting a under 3 hour time but was hampered by a wait at KNIGHTSBRIDGE for 2 minutes which cost me the win never mind happy that my tube knowledge is still there and i got 2nd time in the league.

a big thank you to the tangster for organising but can u change the bloody pub next time!

[RJSRdg]

But i remember it was a long corridor run

Yes, Charing Cross was two separate stations (Trafalgar Square and Strand) until the linking corridors were put in as part of the preparation for building the Jubilee Line platforms in the 1970s.

[Oggm]

Well firstly it was me not tangy shouting down the corridor at waterloo OGGM (milo)

Fair enough, must have messed up who was saying what and where in the heat of it all. Allas a very creative and ingenious way to save time!

[RJSRdg]

Loving the write ups - keep em coming guys please!

And Walthamstow Central doesn't have a toilet as advertised on the tube map!

Toilet tube map is way out of date. Here's the latest list TfL published in September last year - also out of date as the infrastructure continues to break down:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/enhanced-cus ... mation.pdf

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains...."

[RobbieM]

Loving the write ups - keep em coming guys please!

And Walthamstow Central doesn't have a toilet as advertised on the tube map!

Toilet tube map is way out of date. Here's the latest list TfL published in September last year - also out of date as the infrastructure continues to break down:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/enhanced-cus ... mation.pdf

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains...."

A Radar key is a wonderful thing…

[Lunaticonthegrass]

In short, it went a lot better than last year.

The biggest mistake I made all day was first thing, when I left my flat without my newly updated door position sheet. That was going to make things interesting! Fortunately I've done enough chanlenging already to know some of the door positions by heart, plus I had a not-very-good app on my phone, but this would still put me at a disadvantage.

My initial plan from Borough was to hear north to London Bridge and then knock out all of the stations south of the river first then head north from Vauxhall, but I didn't like the idea of having so many changes early on. Eventually I found a route I liked with started with me heading south instead, as follows:

Borough Kennington BPS (run) Vauxhall Victoria Sloane Square Aldgates Paddington Lambeth North Waterloo London Bridge Euston TCR Queensway (run) Bayswater Earl's Court Russell Square Holborn St. Paul's

Starting on the first train after 1pm was an interesting one. A southbound train came in at 1 minute to, and all the challengers on this platform wondered if it would leave after 13:00:00. As it happened, the doors locked locked at about 12:59:57, with none of us on it, and a 6 minute wait until the next train.

Finally getting started, it was myself, Team Ian and Muadh heading south. Team Ian left us at E&C, and Muadh and myself changed for a Battersea train at Kennington, which came along after about 4 minutes. Down to BPS and he ran for the train back in the adjacent platform, along with a load of challengers in the next carriage along. I have no idea where they came from! I myself exited for the usual run to Vauxhall. I saw Milo and Yifan on the approach to Vauxhall, having clearly just run there from Nine Elms. In fact, there were a lot of challengers waiting on the nouthbound Vauxhall platform who had got there one way of the other. We all headed to Victoria together and had a proper race up the escalators to the westbound sub-surface platforms. Most of us made the tight connection, but only two - Milo and myself - walked down the train to make the second tight connection at Sloane Square.

The pair of us were on a circle line train heading east. I contemplated dropping back a train for a better chance of getting north of the Aldgates quickly, like I did 2 years ago. The difference was that I then wanted to head to Paddington, so ending up on a Met wouldn't be good, and the next circle was most likely some way behind (although I didn't check). I decided to gamble on a H&C from Aldgate East, as did Milo. He took off like a rocket at Aldgate, with me trailing behind. I made it to Aldgate East to see a H&C in the westbound platform.

We left straightaway but the got delayed going back past Aldgate as they regulated the service. Milo and I were in different carriages so I don't know when he got off the train. I went on to Paddington Bishops Road without incident then ran to Praed Street and took the Bakerloo south. Fairly swift double back at Lambeth North and (I think) decent connections at Waterloo and London Bridge.

My door position app only gave positions for the Charing Cross branch on the Northern line at Euston so I had to guess door positions, at which I got lucky. I knew it wouldn't tell me about the secret cut throughs at TCR and I was sure that I needed to be at one end of the train. I was then rather surprised when I ran up the stairs and found myself at the bottom of the main escalators. In a state of panic I followed the only Central Line sign I could see... and found myself back on the Northern line platforms. Thinking that it must be the other end of the platform I needed, I headed that way and things started to look familiar. Made it to the Central line just as a train was pulling in, which would mean - remarkably - that I didn't go down a train here.

Headed west and got out at Queensway for the usual run. A 3 minute wait at Bayswater, which was the longest wait I'd had so far, but a marked improvement on last year, and it was a Wimbleware, which was what I wanted. On the train Andi came down and found me. He must have been on the Central line train behind me and had just made this train. We both went down to Earl's Court and then up to Russell Square, with Andi telling anyone who'd listen about what we were doing.

Andi finished at Russell Square, and he very kindly agreed to buy me a pint so I had one waiting when I got to the pub. I finally made a good Russell Square connection on a Z1 challenge but then had another 3 minute wait for my final train. The doors were held shut for an agonising few seconds before I could finally stop my clock for a new Z1 PB.

[Capelblue]

We met up at Liverpool Street for the station draw with the knowledge that the entire central section of the Piccadilly line was currently suspended meaning the potential possibility of a redraw. In the event it was not needed as Borough came out. We had a circular route mapped out in both directions so the issue was which way to go. We decided to go to Elephant & Castle first because the London Bridge change is trickier than E&C, and also it delayed us going onto the Piccadilly line until later in the route.

We were on the southbound platform with James and Muadh waiting for 1pm and frustrated to see the train leave 3 seconds before then. We left them at Elephant & Castle, indeed being the last time we saw any challengers until the pub !

The pattern of the day was set by the fact that we reached the Bakerloo platforms to see a train leaving and then a 4 minute wait for the next one to go. Most of our other changes were decent, but we had an issue changing at Tottenham Court Road where our app gave us the wrong door position and we ended up on the concourse having to go out of the barriers and back through the Central line ones, it took us 6 minutes here to do the change.

At Bayswater we thought we had got lucky as a train was in the platform, but we soon realised it was a Circle line train and had to wait 7 minutes for the following District line one at HSK. The Piccadilly line that followed was actually perfect, train in the platform and no delays to Kings Cross.

The final blow of the day was the 17 minutes from leaving the train at Vauxhall to the train leaving Battersea - a combination of no bus for 4 minutes, traffic lights that wouldn't play ball, and then a train pulling out of BPS as we got to the platform meaning another 6 minutes lost.

Our route was the same as the eventual winner (just in reverse), but we are nowhere near as quick, and we got some bad connections.

Well done to all, and especially Tangy for arranging it and the quiz, just a shame that the pub no longer does food !