Zone 1 Challenge - 28th July

[Going Underground]

Another enjoyable Z1 attended by Editorsfoot, Starkey, Going Underground and Dr Who (with video camera)

We all knew Angel was the starting point prior the challenge but had 3 very different routes, 2 finishing at Vauxhall and 1 at Knightsbridge....

On the way we did a food drop to Pete Miller and friend Ian doing 275 today, they were about 10-15 mins behind schedule when we last saw them shortly after 11am, they are still out there somewhere

The H & C was it's usual Bitch self and despite Starkey's best running efforts he kept just missing the service around the Paddington area and decided to call it a day at London Bridge and do a "Bottle" from Bank instead.

Editorsfoot lost around 20 mins at Paddington and eventually came home in a time of 3hrs 23 mins and 54 secs...

Myself and the Dr had a pretty good run, couple of 5-6 mins delays at Euston Sq and Bayswater, but we got home in a P.B. time of 3hrs 05mins 05 secs

We have just watched the video footage, quite a laugh as you can imagine....

Now back to Starkeys Bottle which like I say started at Bank and finished at Knightsbridge.. The sub 2 hours has been smashed as he came home in 1 hr 52mins 55 secs....

I am sure if not done so already then I am sure he will post on the Top Bottle
times thread.....

Ok off on a weeks hol's now, so catch up with all the news on my return...

[Starkey7]

Will this video footage of me desperately holding the doors open while you two calmly messed about with camera equipment be available?

Regarding my story, as Going Underground said, I missed the Hammersmith and City at Euston Square by about fifteen seconds, so took the next Circle to Paddington. On running along towards the Hammersmith and City platforms, I saw an eastbound train coming in, and though I ran and ran, it was to no avail - fifteen seconds late again!

I decided to continue my route for a little while, but further stop start business meant that I decided to give up the Zone 1 challenge at London Bridge. So after stretching my legs and getting a drink at Bank, I was ready to start the Bottle. (It was about 1:37pm by then, so I knew that I'd finish as the others were finishing their Zone 1 stuff.)

I shan't disclose my route (although I'm sure that everyone'll end up working it out) but I knew that it had great potential. And I had excellent, and very lucky connections, throughout! A highlight was coming down the stairs at Bayswater and seeing "Circle line via Victoria - 2 minutes". I also met Dr Who and Going Underground there. The other highlight was the Circle line itself; it behaved impeccably!

And one other thing: a businessman on the Circle line saw me writing down each station's times, and asked me whether I was seeing how long it took to go completely round. On mentioning the Bottle Challenge, he thought that it involved pubs! But he was quite intrigued, once he knew what I was talking about...

Anyway, I was very pleased with my time, and I doubt that I shall beat it for quite a while!

One last thing: perhaps you could count my whole day as a zone 1 attempt as well. I missed five stations, and got a time of 3:31'03"!

[tpfkar]

Ah right! Great time Starkey, well done.

[editorsfoot]

Firstly, enjoyable but hot day.

My route was going great guns for the first couple of hours, the adrenalin was flowing freely and I was running like a good'un. The one part of my route that really bothered me was the Edgware Road and Paddington bit, either Edgware Rd (Bakerloo) to Edgware Rd (H&C) and across Paddington from H&C to circle, or stick out on the Bakerloo to Paddington and back at Edgware Road (H&C), going well I chose the latter and arrived on Paddington H&C to nothing, no train on the way from Royal Oak either.

After a few minutes the PA bursts into life and announces the next eastbound train has left Hammersmith!! When the steam stopped coming out of my ears the announcement said 9 minutes before it was at Paddington, not worth changing my route, sadly it was 15 minutes before the train arrived, then I had to wait 5 minutes at Edgware Road. With all hope of glory gone it took a couple of changes to get back in my stride.

And to cap it all when I went through my route for what would have been a bottle challenge starting at Bank, it almost the same as Starkeys! So a day of what could have been, but aren't they all? Well done on getting the bottle record Starkey, at least I know my bottle route is a good one, watch this space!

[hwolge]

Starkey, could your route possibly resemble the one I posted last spring in another thread in this forum:

I believe the best route possible would be:

Bank-Queensway-(run)-Bayswater-(full circle)-Paddington-Charing Cross- Euston-(Victoria line, probably)-King's Cross-Knightsbridge...

[tpfkar]

I don't think I'd seen that route before-I see it uses 6 trains. I think my previous best route used 14!

So just maybe this one is a bit tidier!

[hwolge]

And for the keen runner (like tpfkar), it may possibly be worthwhile using the Goodge Street - Russell Square run (reducing the route to 5! trains)...

[greatkingrat]

But then you would miss out Warren Street!

[hwolge]

Oops... you're right of course. Forgot about that one. However Warren Street - Russell Square is also a possible run... (3/4 mile - 5 minutes for a good runner)

[gasman]

It occurs to me that you're having to revisit Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road just to get Charing Cross ticked off, which seems a bit wasteful. Would it be at all reasonable to run from Westminster to Charing Cross and then rejoin the circle at Embankment? (Or run Charing Cross to Temple if that works out better - doubt it though...)

Then, you could finish off by running Regent's Park to Warren Street (ok, this idea isn't much use until next year), Northern line to Goodge Street, then run to Russell Square to finish off with the Piccadilly line.

[hwolge]

Yes, I agree - for an able runner; I myself would not seriously consider the Goodge Street - Russell Square run..

I'd probably go for a quick double-back on the Bakerloo Line (or possibly Northern) Embankment-Charing Cross-Emabankent. You've got ~7.5 minutes to catch the next Cricle train.

[Starkey7]

HÃ¥kan, yes that's almost exactly the route that I came up with (honest!). The reason that I chose that route is because it has the fewest possible changes. Now I don't like repeating stations if I can help it, but that only wastes a very small amount of time in the grand scheme of things.

Besides, I decided that one experience of the Circle line was probably enough! Luckily I only had a two minute wait for it at Bayswater.

Gasman, regarding your idea. You'd lose about seven or eight minutes doing the Charing Cross business, and about five minutes doing the Regents Park run. The Bakerloo line and Northern line "V shape" in that area is incredibly quick, and the change at Charing Cross is just under a minute's run if you're quick. I'm not sure if running it is worth all the trouble!

Lastly, I decided to run from Warren Street to Russell Square. This was a very pleasant route and took just under five minutes.

[hwolge]

If you do the Warren Street-Russell Square run in 5 minutes (1200 meters) then the Regent's Park-Warren Street is certainly a lot quicker (400 meters). That is - when Regent's Park is open.

Interestingly, my prediction for my route (with brisk walking rather than running) was around 1h56m - which matches your effort quite nicely I think.

[Root]

Damn you Starkey, I'm pretty sure I told you about that route at the TCD.

Nice going though.

[Starkey7]

Mmm, but I never like the idea of doing the Charing Cross double-back. I always hesitate before surrendering my place on a Circle train; that's why I did the whole shooting match in one go.
Maybe I could double back from Leicester Square...

Root, lots of people told me lots of routes. I assure you that, though I may have come across it (and several others) before, I arrived at that route after applying my rule of "change as little as possible"!