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This round was the best Random 15 result for me ever, with the medal once in reach but lost it on the last decision point.

This was the National Rail round and the starting station was London St. Pancras (National Rail), which gave many interesting starting opportunities including the possibility to use the HS1 or travelling through the Primrose Hill Tunnel. I was in a hurry having my lunch on my way to St. Pancras and finding a toilet before the race started, and just made it back in time after the toilet visit for the start, so I hadn't settled in race mode at that point.

I always check all the contents of the envelope before entering the paid area, however, a quick scan of the 15 stations provided showed that there were no stations north of St. Pancras to be visited, so it was either going east or going west. There weren't any stations in the far east of Zone 2 (like Stratford or West Ham) to visit, the north-easternmost one was Cambridge Heath, while we needed to go as north-west as White City. A pack of people already ran into the Thameslink station as soon as the race started, but the first train going south from St. Pancras (1) wasn't until 12:32 (destination Rainham) so I joined the pack as well and alighted with the pack at Farringdon (with some carrying onwards to Blackfriars).

However, when we got to Farringdon, we all missed an eastbound Metropolitan train, and subsequently missed a Weaver train at 15-minute headway required to get to Cambridge Heath. That was where I split off the pack as I immediately took the Central to Bethnal Green for a Weaver back from Cambridge Heath, while the others took a train which ran non-stop to Hackney Downs and went back on the stopping train which I joined at Cambridge Heath (2).

Afterwards, we all got off at Bethnal Green and ran to Whitechapel for a southbound Windrush train, which called at Shadwell (3) and headed for Crystal Palace. There were two stations in the southeast, Nunhead and South Bermondsey, to be visited with only half hourly services and I wanted to check train times, but the was no signal all the way until we reached Surrey Quay, the critical decision point where I had to decide to stay on, change to one which went to Clapham Junction, or leave the station entirely. My journey planner Aubin allows me to enter the stations which I have to pass through as a calling point in the order I want to visit on the way to a destination, so I could compare which I should go to first, but it was too late already before I could make any decision and I ended up getting off at New Cross Gate.

I saw a 343 bus and took it to the top of the hill, and ran down to Nunhead (4) with an 11-minute wait for a Thameslink train to Peckham Rye, then changed to a Southern train to South Bermondsey (5) for a double back to Peckham Rye, and changed to a Windrush train where the others joined me back at Denmark Hill (6), which I found out afterwards we would end up back on the same train no matter which of the two stations we went first using my journey planner.

We all went together to Clapham High Street, switched to the Northern at Clapham North for a double-back at Clapham South (7), then to Stockwell (8) for Victoria through Victoria (9) to Green Park (10), switched to Piccadilly through Hyde Park Corner (11) to Earl's Court for further decision. During the way I used the journey planner to check the expected finishing times for various options afterwards and decided to travel to West Kensington (12) and ran to Kensington (Olympia) (13). At that point we could either take the District back to Earl's Court or the Mildmay to Shepherd's Bush, and the train times indicated that we should go to Shepherd's Bush.

We all ran out of the Overground station and entered the Underground station, I was following the pack but the doors of a westbound train to White City (finishing at Notting Hill Gate) in front of me closed immediately after Tangy and another competitor got in, and the pack was split. Some then decided to take a gamble for an eastbound train to Notting Hill Gate first then back to White City, creating a further split from the pack of 6, resulting in a 3-way split with 2 each. I didn't enter the eastbound train as White City was just one stop a short distance to the west, while Notting Hill Gate was two stops to the east. I took the next train to White City (14) and joined back Tangy and another who ran off a train before me on a starting train, and finished at Notting Hill Gate (15) at 15:31:08 in a 4-way tie, 3 hours 1 minute and 8 seconds for the whole race.

Unfortunately, the two people who went east at Shepherd's Bush won the gamble when the result was announced that they finished about two minutes ahead of us and became the champion of the race, leaving the 4 of us the third place.

It was such a pity that we couldn't win together as a 6-way tie, and I didn't realise that the running time was nearly the same from Shepherd's Bush to White City or Notting Hill Gate despite the eastern leg was further away with one more stop, resulting in the wrong decision after I missed the westbound train.

Given how badly things had gone on the NR round last season and how the recent snow storm had cancelled the vast majority of train services the previous day, I started this round not massively looking forward to how it might do. I travelled down from Birmingham to take part because... Well I'm not entirely sure. I think it was a combination of being a masochist and FOMO, and having nothing better to do.

I went for barriers first on this round, having decided beforehand that I would start by depart from the Thameslink platforms at ST PANCRAS regardless, finally opening the envelope at platform level, with a southbound train already in the platform. I had decided to head north at the start if there was anything up that way, but all the stations in this round were spread in an arc across the bottom of the map. I spotted Nunhead on the list and, knowing it to be a difficult station that I could get to from the start easily, decided to head there first.

So it was onto the train in the platform with everyone else and off we went! Getting to Nunhead required a change at Blackfriars to a train which started from there. Not knowing Blackfriars NR station well I went around the north end of the platforms, requiring me to go out of the ticket barriers and then back in on the other side, which caused me to get stuck and I had to be let through manually. Still, easily made the 4 minute connection.

I found Peter on this train, but I was surprised that more hadn't chosen to knock out this difficult station with ease early on. We both went round through DENMARK HILL to NUNHEAD, then it was 8 minutes for a train back to Peckham Rye. 12 minutes for a train towards South Bermondsey here. Peter surprised me by getting on the northbound Windrush line train which came in 10 minutes beforehand. But, having passed though SOUTH BERMONDSEY, I encountered him again when we both got off at London Bridge. He had simply gone one stop to Queen's Road (Peckham) just to get a bit further down the line.

We went separate ways here. Although we had dealt with the most awkward stations rather well early on, we had split the group of remaining stations in half, meaning that we could either head west then finish in the east, or head east and finish in the west. I decided to head east so as to knock out the more difficult NR stations, and save the lovely LU stations for later. So I ran from London Bridge NR to Bank and managed to get straight onto a DLR service to Shadwell. Ran to SHADWELL NR and just caught a northbound service here, then out at Whitechapel for a run to Cambridge Heath, which looks a long way on the tube map but in reality took me 9 minutes. I knew that there was a train I could potentially make so really pushed myself, and was very pleased to see it pulling in as I arrived at the platform.

Out of CAMBRIDGE HEATH to Liverpool Street, then down to the Liz line and straight onto a train there. Change to the Central Line at Bond Street, where I just missed a train but another was along 2 minutes later. It was rather stop-start though. Having passed through NOTTING HILL GATE, we were held at Holland Park due to some issues with the track at East Acton - not sure exactly what that was. I considered getting out and running somewhere, but that would have meant I had to come back to the area for White City later, so it didn't seem like a great idea. After about 4 minutes we were moving again.

Great doubleback at WHITE CITY, then ran between the 2 Shepherd's Bush stations to see that I had a 10 minute wait. Down to KENSINGTON (OLYMPIA), and I must say that this is an OK station in the national rail round. Went from here to West Kensington on foot, but it wasn't quite a run, more a limping jog. I need to pause my write-up for a moment here to give you the full story.

There were no signs in London that the rest of the country had been hit by loads of snow over the previous week, but I live in the frozen north (Birmingham) and we'd had quite a bit. On my way to work on Wednesday morning I'd slipped and fallen onto my right knee, which was still a bit delicate for this challenge. Coupled with the running I had already done, it was not in a good state and moving at any real speed was rather painful. But I pushed on knowing that this was the last big run I had today.

Rather annoyed to just miss a train at WEST KENSINGTON, and was given a 4 minute wait for the next one. Whilst waiting, I saw a train come into the other platform with about 6 challengers on board - the first time I'd seen anyone since Peter and I split. I though that I had been doing very well up to this point, but seeing so many of them together indicated that they weren't far off finishing. None of them saw me - they all exited here.

My train finally came and I departed. About 1 minute for a Piccadilly line train at Earl's Court then through HYDE PARK KORNER and a blistering connection to the Victoria line at GREEN PARK. Down through VICTORIA and got held up for a short which just outside Stockwell. Which was very annoying as I reached STOCKWELL to see a Northern train waiting in the platform which I then missed by a hair's breadth. Nevermind. 2 minutes for the next southbound train which took me to finish at CLAPHAM SOUTH.

An interesting point with my attempt was that I didn't set foot on an Underground train until about 1h50 into the challenge (at Bond Street).

And there was a very good pub session afterwards with some really good darts scores, including myself checking out on 47 and Tangy going bust on 108. Really glad I came down for the day.

Well done on your best ever result Michael. Please refer to Tangy's notes for round 2 though, I don't think your journey planner is allowed any more.

It was a chilly January day as we all met up at St Pancras Thameslink station for the national rail twist round, I started my watch, and opened the envelope as I was heading through the barriers, scanned the stations and decided to pile onto the southbound train in the platform having seen nothing north, along with the rest of the pack. At that point, I had no idea even where the next stop was, but on seeing on the boards in the train it was Farringdon I decided to get off in order to head towards Cambridge Heath. We all missed the first train at Farringdon which meant the Weaver line connection was not going to be slick. Off at Liverpool Street, and onto a fast train to Hackney Downs where we all got off to double back through Cambridge Heath, I considered getting off here to run to Hoxton, but the rest stayed on so I did to and followed the runners from Bethnal Green down to Whitechapel (I actually didn't know where we going, so it was a useful learning exercise). I missed the first Windrush train as my fitness is not great at the moment (more of that later), but there was a Clapham Junction train afterwards which I boarded with Rhys and A2 and passed through Shadwell, this gave a little opportunity for route planning although the signal was too poor until Surrey Quays. It was clear that whatever I did was likely to result in one long wait, the key was to avoid two, I could see that I would be able to make a pretty quick connection at Queens Road Peckham up to South Bermondsey, and from here I considered walking to Nunhead as I had nearly 40 minutes to make the connection, but I decided to preserve energy and double back to Peckham Rye where there was a 20 minute wait with Glen and Tangy for the train to Nunhead, a quick double back here brought us to Denmark Hill where we changed onto a Windrush line train. By now there was a group of 7 of us, we had mostly done different things, but the infrequency of the trains in the south meant we had all clustered together. We got off at Clapham High Street, and took advantage of traffic jams to leg it across the street to Clapham North. Down to Clapham South where we doubled back, changed at Stockwell onto the Vic, through Victoria, and then onto the Piccadilly at Green Park, and through Hyde Park Corner.

It was pretty clear at this point that for us 7 it was effectively going to be a random 4, Glen left us at South Kensington, my plan was to change at Earl's Court, go to West Ken, and then run to Olympia. On getting to EC though I calculated that I would only have about 8-9 minutes for the run and thought my fitness would not be sufficient, so I let it go with the other 6 on it, and picked up a District line train to Kensington (Olympia). My only hope at this point would be that they failed the run, but they all arrived with around 1-2 minutes to spare, and so we all boarded the Overground, changed at Shepherd's Bush, and I got onto an eastbound Central line train with Andrew C and Glen, doubled back at Notting Hill Gate to White City where they completed, I ran to Wood Lane, down to Hammersmith, across the road and finished at West Kensington in a time of 3:14:52 which gave me an 8th place finish which I was pretty pleased with considering I knew the other 6 must have beaten me !

I wouldn't have deserved the win in all honesty anyway as I did just follow the gang from Bethnal Green to Whitechapel, not knowing which station we were going to ! It was a useful learning exercise though.

The big lesson though today was must get fitter ! Well done all, and thanks to Tangy as usual for organising.

St Pancras Farringdon Liverpool Street Hackney Downs Cambridge Heath Bethnal Green (LO) run to Whitechapel Shadwell Surrey Quays run to South Bermondsey Peckham Rye Nunhead Denmark Hill Clapham High Street run to Clapham North Clapham South Stockwell Victoria Green Park Hyde Park Corner South Kensington West Kensington run to Kennington Olympia Shepherd's Bush (LO) Shepherd's Bush (Central) Notting Hill Gate White City

2h 59m 24s

Did two runs yesterday that I've never done before (Bethnal Green LO to Whitechapel, and Surrey Quays to South Bermondsey)

My logic at Shepherd's Bush after Tangy and co caught the westbound, and I didn't, was I had nothing to gain from waiting for the next westbound train. However, doing Notting Hill Gate first might produce a quicker change

The results of round 3 of the 2025/26 Random 15 Championship held on Saturday 10th January 2026.

Round 3 is as always the National Rail twist round whereby NR stations in zones 1 & 2 (including LO and XR) are included in the pool of potential stations to visit.

The stations that needed to be visited were:
--St. Pancras (NR) [meet up/start]
--Clapham South
--Denmark Hill
--Victoria (LU)
--Stockwell
--Hyde Park Corner
--Nunhead
--Kensington Olympia
--White City
--Notting Hill Gate
--Shadwell (LO)
--West Kensington
--South Bermondsey
--Green Park
--Cambridge Heath

There were 13 challengers in 12 teams:

12th: Andy JS - 04:47:42 at Cambridge Heath.
11th: Richard Standing - 03:47:55 at Notting Hill Gate.
10th: Peter Smyth - 03:18:48 at Cambridge Heath.
9th: Andrew Baker and Rhys Jackson - 03:18:11 at Notting Hill Gate.
8th: Ian McIntyre - 03:14:52 at West Kensington.
7th: James Ramsbottom - 03:09:58 at Clapham South.
=3rd: Tangy - 03:01:08 at Notting Hill Gate.
=3rd: Sacha Hunter - 03:01:08 at Notting Hill Gate.
=3rd: Michael Tsang - 03:01:08 at Notting Hill Gate.
=3rd: James Wright - 03:01:08 at Notting Hill Gate.
=1st: Andrew Chilcraft - 02:59:24 at White City.
=1st: Glen Bryant - 02:59:24 at White City.

The leaderboard after 3 rounds now looks like this:

1st: James Wright (25 points) [3 rounds attended]
2nd: Andrew Chilcraft (24) [3]
3rd: Tangy (22) [3]
4th: Sacha Hunter (20) [3]
5th: Ian McIntyre (18) [3]
6th: Ian Imrie (15) [2]
7th: Rhys Jackson (14) [3]
8th: Peter Smyth (13) [2]
9th: Glen Bryant (12) [1]
=9th: James Ramsbottom (12) [2]
11th: Milo Ogidel (11) [2]
12th: Andrew Baker (10) [3]
13th: Michael Tsang: (9) [2]
14th: Joe Kouyoumjan (6) [1]
=14th: Edward Hill (6) [1]
16th: Tom Hardy (4) [1]
=16th: Pascal Liu (4) [1]
=16th: Yolanda Moran (4)[1]
19th: Josh Valdez (2) [1]
20th: Andy JS (1) [3]
21st: Rhys Benjamin (0) [1]
=21st: Richard Standing (0) [3]

Round 4 is booked for the 20th February, however this may change as part of Tube Olympics. Please watch out for further announcements.

Capelblue wrote: ↑11 Jan 2026, 09:23 Well done on your best ever result Michael. Please refer to Tangy's notes for round 2 though, I don't think your journey planner is allowed any more.

tangy wrote: ↑07 Nov 2025, 19:09 Following a discussion amongst challengers present at the pub after the previous round, it is requested that challengers refrain from using AI or similar apps to plan large chunks or the whole of their route, this should be done using your own knowledge. However it is still permitted to use apps or websites like Google Maps, Real Time Trains or bus trackers at any time to assist you during the challenge.

This policy will be kept under review.

Tangy.
BERC.

I have read this note and my app is not an AI or similar app. It is comparable to Google Maps or Citymapper with more features, and is powered by OpenTripPlanner, which is the same backend used by Entur (the transport authority for Norway) or HSL (the transport authority for Helsinki), therefore I am still allowed to use it. It plans routes on the basis of timetables and real-time data (if available) using RAPTOR and does not involve any AI models.

So close and yet so far...

This twist had always intrigued me given the potential to get big service gaps and incredibly awkward stations. This time, they served primarily to bunch us all up, which set up a very exciting finish.

The first decision on opening the envelope at St Pancras International was relatively straightforward, given the complete lack of any stations North of the start. So we all piled onto a Southbound train to Farringdon, where most of us got off and just missed a connection to the subsurface. We then all missed the first Weaver train at Liverpool Street (1243) and ended up on the 1246 (which skipped Cambridge Heath). Most people doubled back at Hackney Downs (with a 4 minute connection), but I decided to run from Bethnal Green to Cambridge Heath, to warm up the legs and scout the door position for the next run to Whitechapel.

I joined up with most of the others on the train back down to Bethnal Green, somehow messing up the door position before the run to Whitechapel. 6 of us (Tangy, Andrew, Michael, JW, Glen and myself if I remember correctly) made the first train towards Crystal Palace via Shadwell (LO) ; 3 of us got off at Surrey Quays to run to South Bermondsey, where we were joined by others who had doubled back from Queen's Road Peckham, while Andrew and Michael made their way down to Nunhead. Down to Peckham Rye, and rather than wait around for 20 minutes I decided to double back and tick off Denmark Hill (which gained me absolutely nothing), before rejoining a large group on the train down to Nunhead. We all doubled back to Denmark Hill, where most of us changed to a Windrush line train to Clapham High Street (some stayed on to Elephant and Castle I presume) and we were rejoined on the train by Andrew and Michael. This left 7 of us, having ticked off all of the non LU stations, on the same train and tied for the lead going into the finishing stretch.

We all stuck together across the road to Clapham North, doubling back at Clapham South and then running across the platform at Stockwell. Then it was up through Victoria to Green Park, and via Hyde Park Corner to Earl's Court, where we all deliberated how to tick off the final 4 stations. Ian decided to take the safe option of the train to Olympia, banking on us missing the connection to the Mildmay there. However, the remaining 6 of us headed out to West Kensington and then in an epic sprint made the connection at Kensington Olympia with a few minutes to spare. This left a 6-way tie for the lead at Shepherd's Bush.

I will first say that I was aware that the travel time to White City and Notting Hill Gate is almost identical from Shepherd's Bush. As a result, my plan was to take the first train in either direction. That ended up being to White City, where Tangy and I headed having managed to drop the rest. However, the connection there was a disaster, which both allowed Michael and James to catch us having taken the next Westbound train and allowed Andrew and Glen to take victory via the change at Notting Hill Gate, where we finished in 03:01:08. In hindsight, I still don't regret my decision, but I can only hope that luck might swing to favour me in future rounds...

miklcct wrote: ↑11 Jan 2026, 13:35 I have read this note and my app is not an AI or similar app. It is comparable to Google Maps or Citymapper with more features, and is powered by OpenTripPlanner, which is the same backend used by Entur (the transport authority for Norway) or HSL (the transport authority for Helsinki), therefore I am still allowed to use it. It plans routes on the basis of timetables and real-time data (if available) using RAPTOR and does not involve any AI models.

I think the spirit of the note is to encourage independent decision-making, rather than simply plugging in a list of stations (ordered or not) and following a route prescribed for you. In my view, your app is probably allowed as a consulting tool (to check the precise times of trains and connections) but potentially not as a planning tool. It's a difficult distinction to officially draw though so I think that trying to preserve the spirit of independent thought where possible would be the best idea.

I've been doing a bit more analysis of my route yesterday.

First thought was that I lost 14 minutes at Liverpool Street and 18 at Nunhead, so that's 32 minutes down the drain. However, at the pub most of the other Challengers also reported long waits, so I don't think that was an issue.

Looking at Realtime Trains, the fact I didn't do the Hackney doubleback to get to Cambridge Heath only cost me two minutes in terms of getting to CH, but left me either a 10 minute wait for the next train to Bethnal Green or the bus/"run" to Hoxton. Despite the bus turning up almost immediately, the combination of traffic, unclear signage at Hoxton, and the machine eating my Travelcard cost me a lot of time.

At South Bermondsey, I was a station down on Michael and Andrew C (as they'd been to Nunhead and I hadn't). Nunhead took quite a lot of time but I don't think I could have done it quicker. Had I run rather than walked from Queens Road Peckham I would have had an even longer wait at Nunhead! Similarly had I changed at Peckham Rye and doubled back, I would still have been on the same train from Nunhead. So no time lost there. However, Andrew and Michael's tactic of doing Nunhead first seems to have had better connections than doing South Bermondsey first.

The "Underground" portion of the challenge went pretty well, apart from not being fit enough to run West Ken - Olympia, but again I doubt the time saved by running would have got me a train ahead.

So my time loss mainly came from:

- Not doing the Hackney double back, and the Hoxton debacle that followed.
- Doing South Bermondsey before Nunhead.

My route was very similar to the large pack, though I was unique in doing the run from Brockley to Nunhead. Did it quicker than anticipated, probably because I thought it was further than it actually was.

No question Sacha and Tangy deserved to win, having made the first train at Shepherds Bush. I fully intended to go to White City first and finish at Notting Hill Gate. Having missed that train, I do feel like I made a good strategic decision to go the other way. It was a risk, but it paid off. Glen and I, along with Ian who was with us on that train, speculated about whether, despite having an intermediate station, going via NHG first was actually much slower. We speculated on turnaround time, journey time, and the slowness of the curve between Shepherds Bush and White City. We knew that our turnaround at NHG was very good. So we were hopeful. Glad it paid off!

My route was very similar to the rest of the top 6, so I will just mention the notable differences:

At Liverpool Street, I was fairly sure I wasn't going to make the Weaver line service (it departed at 12:43 and we arrived at the Circle line platform at 12:43), so I went straight to the Central line to go to Bethnal Green and then run to Cambridge Heath. I was then joined by some other challengers on the platform, and then more were on the train that pulled in.

I spent my time at Cambridge Heath planning my route for the National Rail stations in the south-east. My plan was:

• run from Brockley to Nunhead

• take the Thameslink service to Denmark Hill

• run to Peckham Rye (the timetable inconveniently providing a 15-minute gap and then two services at the same time)

• take the Southern service through South Bermondsey to London Bridge

On the evidence of the Bethnal Green (LO)—Whitechapel run (where I surprised myself by not falling too far behind the pack, aided by taking a shorter route) I decided I might not be able to do that Denmark Hill—Peckham Rye run in time, costing me a half-hour wait for the next Southern service. So I quickly made a new plan that was more reliable and about ten minutes slower, which was essentially the same plan most of the rest chose too.

My difference was I forgot that Surrey Quays—South Bermondsey was an option, so I exited at Shadwell for the DLR to Bank then Northern line to London Bridge to get the Southern service from its origin, which then collected the others on the platform at South Bermondsey.

On the West Kensington—Olympia run I again surprised myself by not falling behind, and again was helped by the others taking a longer route than me.

The deciding factor came at the Shepherd's Bush interchange. Despite being the first one off the Mildmay service and through the ticket barriers, I was overtaken while crossing the road and was the last one to arrive at the Central line platform, and didn't even see the westbound service that Tangy and Sacha caught. I'm not upset at my decision to jump off the eastbound service at the last minute: if the train at White City had left soon after I'd boarded instead of waiting two minutes then we probably would have been joint first instead of joint third. But I will always remember from now on: a train in the platform is worth two in the tunnel.

JamesWright wrote: ↑13 Jan 2026, 20:17 My route was very similar to the rest of the top 6, so I will just mention the notable differences:

At Liverpool Street, I was fairly sure I wasn't going to make the Weaver line service (it departed at 12:43 and we arrived at the Circle line platform at 12:43), so I went straight to the Central line to go to Bethnal Green and then run to Cambridge Heath.

I thought I saw you diving down the stairs to the Central Line as I was heading from the Elizabeth Line to the NR platforms, but I thought "Can't be him, there's nothing up this end of the Central Line!"