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As previously discussed with several other forum members i will be attempting the full network for the 4th time this thursday.Catching the brown team up now quite quickly has anyone apart from the famous Bob Robinson tried more attempts than neil 9 times?.

I be going solo this time so my run times are reflected in my new plan what i would like is some text messages through out the day to cheer me up and maybe give me some info on delays otherwise i just pick up what i can when i can.

Are you going to be in Chesham at 0548 by any chance? If so, I could crawl out of bed to say "hei", maybe sign a witness statement and take a photo.

Funnily enough without giving too many secrets away i think that i be in Chesham at 05.48.25 unless i decide at chalfront to abandon.

If u wondering why i put the 25 secs on is because twice that has happened either at 5.47.25 or 5.48.25 wondering if happen 3 times in a row.and i love kfc i wish they bring back the nuggets where they gave u barbecue sauce they u could shake them in a cup.

Very interesting to see someone else's complete route, but I think you're a fool for sharing it.

Most people are too egotisitcal to use someone else's route these days so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Well i do these challenges for fun and even if i held GWR for just 1 day i be happy besides i have 6 routes even 3 with different finishes 1 with a different start so who is to say whether i might change my mind due to delays or circumstances beyond my control like stupid taxi firms.

The point is to challenge myself throughout the day mentally and stamina wise and being solo its also a challenge to go up against the teams of 3 or 5 people and seeing whether its an advantage or not.

On my first attempt back in February 2004 when I got the record I did a solo attempt, but even then before getting Witness Statements every hour it was tough to take photos and do the log and I had a support man the whole day from beggining to end to carry bags and get train numbers etc. I'd say you have the odds on your side though as whatever time you set as long as it is above the new maximum time set by Guinness it will be a record.

well i have to beat the Soup Dragon team time of 17h30m unless Guiness change the record up to 269 but i suppose i have the honour of being one of the first to visit heathrow t5 the bus station there looks incredible from the plans.

When I spoke to them they said to get back to them a few days before March 27th to get the official ruling although they mentioned a new maximum time being based on the current record and that until that date they couldn't give me anything certain as a new record may come in between. So I'd contact them as well just to double check.

I know it's all down to personal opinion but I would never reveal an entire full network route. There are several factors that go into a succesful world record attempt and having a good route is probably one of the major factors, research of interchanges can save you vital seconds and of course fitness is essential.

I think by revealing your whole route you are making it too easy for newcomers, and you might easily give away secrets that nobody else has previously thought of. It would be like Col. Sanders giving away the recipe for KFC.

The recipe to KFC? Can't imagine it'd be that complicated...

268 times cannot be carried over to the 269 configuration, surely?

Root wrote:The recipe to KFC? Can't imagine it'd be that complicated...

268 times cannot be carried over to the 269 configuration, surely?

I would argue in favour of setting it as a new configuration. If it was simply a new intermediate station then maybe you could argue for the record remaining, but the way that Heathrow now works (including the long, long wait at T4) would make it even more difficult to get near the time for 268.

Very big of you to reveal your route! A darn good one if you ask me, but just one modification that I'd humbly suggest, Mr Finn.

*modification deleted by Starkey7*

Call me a purist, call me a hypocrite, or call me whatever the hell you like, but I just disagree with revealing your route at all. Even if you don't get a record, and even if nobody else uses the route you divulge, you are giving away so much information about tube challenging that really should be left to the individual to figure out for themselves. I disagree with making suggestions to improve someone else's route if you're not on the team, too. This is absolutely nothing against Andy, Starkey, or anyone else; it is in general.

While we are all friendly with each other, and while we all recognise each others' achievements, it is important to remember that we are still competitors. These elements do not necessarily have to conflict. Look at cricket as an example: in theory at least, it is a gentleman's sport, where all the players are as polite as you like and play with honour and respect for their opponent... some opponents probably even go out drinking together. However, none of that comes before playing to win. You would never see a batsman going up to a bowler and saying "listen mate, I think you should bowl it a little bit shorter", or a wicket keeper saying to a batsman "excuse me, you've been moving dangerously out of your crease recently, I could have stumped you a few times by now", would you? So, translating that to the 'sport' of tube challenging, it should not be the case that we give our competitors tips on improving their chances of beating us. While you personally might not have a problem with it, the rest of us have every right to feel aggrieved. To use a different sporting analogy, imagine if McLaren and Renault got together and exchanged advice on how to beat Ferrari in Formula 1. Wouldn't you feel aggrieved if you were Ferrari? Or imagine if McLaren made a 780-page dossier called "Secrets of Formula 1" and gave it out to every team - the existing teams wouldn't have much use with it, but it would be massively helpful to any new teams in the sport, allowing them to save huge quantities of time and money they would have spent working it all out for themselves. Is that fair to the existing teams that had to do it themselves?

While I've been around for a while now, in the grand scheme of things I'm still a relative newcomer to tube challenging, and in the beginning I picked up a lot from Geoff's website, the Tube Relief website, and later this forum. In fact, it is highly likely that I never would have developed an interest in tube challenging at all without those websites, and I think the same can be said for many of you. I even admit to having shared my fair share of information in the past (although how much of it was/is useful is debatable). This hasn't been lost on me. My opinions on this subject have only recently changed - I think that taking a break from it all has had that effect. Now, I'm not against those websites (or others that discuss the tube challenge) existing, I just think they should give away a lot less information - just enough to get people interested, but not so much that every route from every newcomer contains identical parts in a slightly different order, as seems to be the case at the moment. I sort of wish I hadn't been given so much information up front - if I had worked out for myself that there was a good bus connection between Edgware and Stanmore/Canons Park, for example, I would have been delighted and I would guarded that discovery fiercely, not knowing who else had also worked it out. Instead, having been given it on a plate, it just feels like I'm following routine. All this information has diminished the planning and research side of tube challenging, and has increased the significance of physical ability and luck.

Maybe there have been many discoveries that aren't common knowledge, like the output from HÃ¥kan's computer. I hope this is the case, but I doubt it somehow. Everyone seems to be pretty open. Of course, if everyone was a lot more cautious, there would still be a slow leak of knowledge - people will share it with new team members or support members - but this would be perfectly natural, unavoidable, and something of a reward for actually getting involved rather than sitting and working out your route with Journey Planner. I would say that's a good thing.

So how about charity runs? Well, I don't think these should be any different. Above a certain level of help - for example, telling the participants to consider buying a Way Out Map, telling them that they need to contact Guinness well in advance of their attempt, etc - they should also have to do their own research, whether or not they are going for a world record. Besides, it would make it that much more of an achievement for them.

These are just my feelings on the matter, of course, but I don't think I'm the only one who holds them. You might agree, disagree, whatever, but I think that this is an important and ongoing discussion which needs to be had. So tell me, what do you think?