CHILDREN IN NEED DAY FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20TH 2009

[Sam]

I thought you'd see us because you spent a lot of the run looking for a bus, much like us!!

Oh yes... i'm sure he was thrilled with that

[palkanetoijala31]

No, it is not impossible thank you.

We were RIGHT behind them, i'm surprised they didn't see us.

I did see an unhappy James most of the way to Rayners Lane and yes we took the Pic line as did you...

Well i got to admit im surprised seeing as i know the pace that steveoo and James took 10 mins exactly train to train how far would u off missing the train.? i was keeping my eye on the bus for the 1st 200m then gave up looking and concentrated hard on the horizon.

[Steeevooo]

I thought you'd see us because you spent a lot of the run looking for a bus, much like us!!

Oh yes... i'm sure he was thrilled with that

Haha, very quick looks just incase there was a bus, unfortunately I didn't see you running in the road, you'll have to both wear hi-vis vests next time

As Andi has just asked (and to which you have probably replied to by the time I post this), how long did it take you two to run to Rayners Lane then? Would have thought that 10 mins train to train would have been enough for you? :/

[Sam]

From memory, I think it took us 11 minutes, it was 13 minutes train to train.

We were slower than expected as morale was low and you saw what mood I was in at the start, basically, I couldn't be arsed to move as I was down, but we picked up the pace later on and put it some more impressive runs

[Steeevooo]

Ah, fair enough, can't argue with the mood you were in at the start! Lucky for you that there was a Picc just behind the one we caught then - were you tactically putting in walks on the NH-RL run at the same time as I was walking with James so that you didn't overtake us then? Just that I'm a bit surprised that given that James and I walked a fair bit of it and if you were right behind us I though you might have overtaken us at some point

[Sam]

I wouldn't say were going purposely slower as to not overtake you.

We thought maybe some of your motivational coaching to James was to keep in front of us

Anyway, I don't think it would have made much difference to us if we had made the train that you caught to be honest.

[Steeevooo]

Haha, had I known that you were behind us then I would have tried to use that to our advantage in my motivational stuff to James!

Anyway, as neither of our teams finished the full network race, I can only draw one conclusion - as Team James (x2) & Steve beat Team SaM to Rayners Lane, I declare a final score of Team JS 1 Team SaM 0

[Steeevooo]

Ah, but that would be from a different race where both teams finished with a DNF, so therefore no side collects a point

While on the vein of the race, may I offer my congratulations to Team Brown for winning the race and completing the network - well done guys!

[Sam]

How about station count then which we would clearly win as well.

We clearly win on having more motivation as we kept going

[palkanetoijala31]

What was team brown final time then wiv a 14 mins preston road db i imagine their day only went better from that

[Going Underground]

Afternoon all

Firstly thank you to Tom for superb support in the morning and the evening and to Martin for meeting with us in the evening and stopping the watch at T5 on 17hrs 18mins 55secs

It was a very, very tough and gruelling day both very mentally and physically tiring and the end would not be believed if it was a work of ficiton

As mentioned earlier we missed the Amersham start but had 5 contingency plans from the 0621 Chesham train.. Unfortunately this departed at 06 28 28 so most of these went out of the window, but during the course of the day we managed to get back on one of these routes and then as we had some good changes we ended ahead of one of our plans and behind the other. This was tough and frustrating and mentally demanding as we continually tried to calculate the best way of getting to Upminster and back, hitting a good Ken Oly and H & C, making a Hainault loop and Epping without delay and in and out of Richmond without wasting much time....There was absolutely no time to allow the mind to switch off and relax even for a few minutes..

As mentioned earlier Preston Road looked to be an absolute disaster, from Northwick Park to Preston Road 3 westbound Mets passed us, including one departing as we arrived and the board showing 14 minutes
We went outside to seek bus options and I was back at the top of the ticket office when after 5 mins a train turned up, I screamed across the road at Jamie and Antony and we just managed to get on....

The Good
We re-calculated and hit a very good Hainault Loop
Arrival Stanmore Departure Edgware in under 14 minutes
A few pretty sexy changes just when we needed them
Somehow running approx 250 metres to catch a route 298 that had passed us and saving High Barnet Cockfosters from being an absolute disaster, trust me that was real pain chasing the bus down the road and I still don't know how me made it.

The Bad
Met Line at the start all our routes and plans and days of work wasted
Having no option but to waste nearly 17 mins doing Ken Oly
Having no option but to waste 10 mins at Fenchurch Street
The usual 9 minute wait for an H & C
Just missing a train and tram at Wimbledon, the buses looked to be an absolute joke with traffic problems and bus stops out of service.
From arrival Wimbledon to departure 9 minutes

The Ugly
Still with an outside hope of a GWR missing a T4 train by the very, very smallest of margins

The Brilliant
Managing to get ahead of the T4 train we had missed and feeling absolutely elated

The Unbelievable
At T4 the announcement that this trains is for T1,2,3 having a green signal and then seeing the driver leave the cab unlock the staff toilet go in come out some 3 minutes later amble back to the cab and eventually leave.
We arrive at T1,2,3 to see 8 minutes on the board and Tangy greeting us with the news that we had missed our T5 train by 2 minutes

It was absolutely gutting to fail in such circumstances, having got all the logging evidence, witness statements, photos, every train number bar 1 and battling back from 25 minutes down (minus the 7 minutes at the start)....

No doubt Soup Dragon may have other detials to add that I have missed or forgotten

Bad luck to the other teams on not being able to complete and hopefully we managed to raise a few pounds between us...

Can I put myself through this much pain and sweat again at my age I honestly don't know.......

[tubeguru]

... hitting a good Ken Oly and H & C ...

The Bad
Having no option but to waste nearly 17 mins doing Ken Oly
The usual 9 minute wait for an H & C

Make your mind up.

[al]

Astonishing! A herculean effort from Team Brown, screwed at the end by a driver's bladder. My deepest commiserations. As for being back out, it may take a few months, but I think you'll be there.

[Going Underground]

... hitting a good Ken Oly and H & C ...

The Bad
Having no option but to waste nearly 17 mins doing Ken Oly
The usual 9 minute wait for an H & C

Make your mind up.

Our calculations concluded that at the time we were in the area this was the BEST way we could hit Ken Oly. We just had to leave the H & C to chance a bit later in the day... There are dozens of ways of doing all the permatations for this section of the network and unfortunately there was nothing better than this we could come up with as we were number crunching as quickly as possible as well as continuing to log and all the other stuff... Had we done things in this area differently the scenarios looked worse... So yes we were trying to hit a good Ken Oly and this bad one was the best we could come up with, if that makes sense now

[tangy]

When they finally did reach the H&C they got to Edgware Road (Circle) 5 minutes into a 13 minute gap between trains!