| Zone 1 Challenge 2005
Neil & I had met up in a cafe nearby an hour before, and immediately got spotted by one of two chaps who had flown over from Sweden for a few days, specifically to take part in the event! Jack Welsby (previous record holder for the whole thing) came down too to help organise as it was he that had the official 'hat' with the 33 possible starting locations inside it, one of which he would pick at random. So people starting turning up, and we took their 'team' pictures and got them to fill in entrance forms along with their team name for the day. A few people were late arriving, and by the time the station was picked, text messages and phone calls were made to the stragglers to tell them to go straight to the starting point.
You could see everyone's minds immediately ticking over "Which way to go ...?", and on the tube down there, maps and pens were produced and people starting pondering. At the station itself, we arrived with half an hour to spare before the allotted starting time of 1pm, and again - people huddled in corners, knelt down - or just found a quiet bench out of the way away from people's prying eyes to plan their routes. Some people had brought 33 pre-planned routes with them (one for every possible starting station), so knew immediately what they were going to do. Myself and Neil found a quite hidey-hole, dug in, and three tube maps and scribbling's later decided that we were going to start by heading west - a popular choice as about 70% of people decided to start by going this way.
It turned out that a couple of people had popped off to go to the toilet, etc.. and I'd missed this so Jack (master of timekeeping!) had to log another official start time for them when they got back a few minutes later to find that everyone had left! It wasn't a massive issue though, as people were trusted to keep track of their own times - but Jack did official log all the official starting times. We figured that with Queensway out of action (meaning that you couldn't run between there and Bayswater), then no new 'record' time would be set today, but that something of about 3 hours might be possible. So for the next three hours or so, 30 odd people or could be found darting about changing trains and going for the fastest time. Three hours (ish) later . . .
Jack had kindly make the effort to pop home during the three hours that we were doing it, type up everyone's names nicely onto a sheet, and as people arrived they quietly told him their times and he compiled who was where in the overall 'chart'. It was quite obvious though from the fact that myself & Neil, Erin & Peter and Håkan and Patrick were the first three teams back with no one else for a few minutes that one of us had probably been the fastest - but who had won? There was no sign of Jodie & Mark (who eventually called us, and in fact never made it to the pub!), and Chris & Andrew who were nowhere to be seen by the time we started the rundown. They called half-way through to confirm that they had the slowest time, and so hadn't affected the final standings anyway! And so, in reverse order of finishing, the teams & times were as follows:
When we all got back to the pub though, we had to wait ages for these guys to show. I was starting to get a bit worried about what had happened to them!
Chris was very proud later to discover that not only had they been last to finish today, but they had the slowest ever recorded Zone 1 time. "But at least we got sub four hours!" he added. Chris has got a write up of this on his own webpages here.
They finished at Oxford Circus.
And who said that tube challenging was just done by a bunch of geeks? Girls can be geeks too! Well .. sort of. Australian Bronywn told me that she didn't want to do all the 'standard touristy stuff' that most people do whilst they're here and was always looking for more unusual things to do, and she was the one that had to coerce colleague Barry into doing this with here.
Back at the pub later they also took their time showing up .. in fact, they didn't show up - so at no point during the day did we see them - hence me having to use the photo that I got of them last year.
He'd just been down to the LU museum shop to pick up a brand new underground t-shirt (you could still see the crease lines from the packaging in it!), and so 'the beard' had arrived.
I thought he was joking at first, until he then got up and said "Right, I'm off to do it then!", and that was the last we saw or heard from him!
Like a lot of people, he ended on the spur out at Vauxhall.
He had a fairly quiet journey round, being far too polite and not bumping into anyone. The closest he came to a mishap was when he stumbled himself and tripped over his own feet whilst running down the stairs to catch a train coming into the platform at Sloane Square.
And they were! Along with a copy of the must-have 'Way Out' map, they also had a hard to find 'Clever Tube Hopper' guide, which tells you the correct carriage to stand in when making changes. They even had walkie talkie radios so that they could chat to one another if they got separated or were just some distance apart.
They also had a dilemma at Aldgate about which train was going to depart first - the Circle Line or the Metropolitan Line - they chose the Circle, but the Met left first! They finished at Vauxhall.
He had a huge problem with his ticket towards the end when the barriers refused to read his ticket properly and he has to start (legitamately) "doubling up" with innocent passengers that were in front of him at the barriers .. lucky you didn't get caught mate! Try explainging that one!
Andrew - I believe - was also highest placed "tube virgin" here today, as everyone else places in the Top 10 as had cracks at either Zone 1, or doing 275 stations before, so on that front he was quite pleased. He is also in favour of Anthony's dust mask theory (see below), as he says: "I blew my nose when I got back that evening and then discovered loads of jet-black crud on my handkerchief. Yuk!"
Fortunately for Steve, Jack was still there with his clipboard & starting clock, and was able to send Steve off again with a new start time. Steve finished at Euston, and admitted that he thinks he should have done better.
He was meant to have a female accomplice, who could unfortunately not make it for the day.
Ric is no tube-virgin, in fact he does currently hold the unofficial record for doing Zone 1, in 2 hours, 45 minutes, 11 seconds - but of course this time would not be broken today because of the Queensway closure.
"I'm still in the middle of my tube 'downtime' phase" he said, as he's had a few attempts at the whole thing recently with a few problems along the way, which had made him a little morose about the whole tube! I then managed to insult him by asking if he'd put on weight, proclaiming that he looked older than he actually was, and with that confidence instilled in him he dashed off in his AFC Wimbledon shirt for a good solo time, finishing up at Vauxhall along with a few others.
He should also be credited for doing the whole thing without a 'Way Out' map, or any references to what carriage he should be in to make the swiftest change, and therefore often found himself battling against crowds of people. Well done sir!
David had got quite excited during the week about any media presence on the day, making me think he's got similar media whore tendencies to myself & Neil, but in the end - no TV cameras were present to film the epic event. They finished at Russell Square in a little over three hours, a good time but one which David knows he can beat. They had a few fun 'incidents' on the way round, including a moment at Notting Hill Gate where they ran up to a District Line train just as the doors were closing, wrenched them apart, and both squeezed in to be met by a round of applause from the passengers already on the train!
"221 feet", is incidentally - the level of the deepest tube station on the network at Hampstead. (Just in case you were wondering about their team name!)
A keen runner, he'd been out making sure that his fitness was up to scratch, although with his entire route as yet to be revealed to us we're not sure which bits of running he did yet.
Adham Fisher and Anthony Smith (better known to some as the Underground Masker) with friend Raju who had been part of the planning but couldn't actually make it on the day. We knew Adham from last year was the most energetic person we've ever met, so it was somewhat shocking to discover that Anthony is equally as enthusiastic and so together they were indeed the most boisterous of theydon-boys that you'd ever seen.
Anthony also sold copies of his 'tube song' CD that he's created. More details of that on his website here.
People still didn't seem to believe us down the pub afterwards when we told everyone that we'd taken it easy -but it's true! We did the Aldgate/Aldgate East run and the Euston/Euston Square run and the Paddington interchange at a very humble jogging pace - no super sprinting for us.
We finished at Russell Square, just a few agonizing seconds behind the top two placed teams ...
Erin's a Kiwi over here doing the two-year visa thing and admits to being "A bit of a geek girl", although mainly she loves the history and the architecture of our tube system.
But an even closer difference in the number of seconds prevented Peter & Erin being the winners, with just 14 seconds separating them in second place, and the team in first place who are ...
Step forward Håkan Wolgé and Patrick Sillén, who came all the way from Lund, Sweden (bringing their ladies with them to do some all important shopping whilst they ran about tubes!), to take part. It's not their first try though, as they came out in February of this year to have an attempt and got a great time of 2 hours, 58 minutes and 37 seconds. So when they walked into the pub right after me, I knew that they'd also got a good time.
They did show me their route in the pub - but I forget it now - but I know that they started by heading east, and finished at Vauxhall. Hakan has got a complete write up on his site here. A lovely moment occurred in the toilets later when we both standing at the urinals together. "You don't mind me winning, do you?" he said, a grin on his face .. and almost apologetic? That a foreigner should come in and steal out thunder? "Not at all!" I chuckled, and I mean it! It was a fun day, everyone enjoyed it - and we'll back to do it again next year ... Well done guys!
Håkan with his winning trophy, and a copy of Anthony's CD Media Whorage There was no TV coverage of us this year, as the Beeb weren't interested and although twice I got a call from two different people from ITV who sounded as if the were interested, they never showed - so nothing happened on TV front. However, fellow friend & blogger Pixeldiva did accompany us for part of the journey, and took plenty of photos to enter herself into the Observer Hodge Photographic Award, and we'll obviously let you know if anything happens. Additional Stuff
Apparantly, I also promised a 'booby prize' to whoever came last which I then forgot about, so it looks like I've now got to go and get them something!
She also brought a complete first aid kid to patch up a couple of people that got got scraped and bumped & bruised on the way round .. cooking, first aid - yes, it's the mother of the tube challengers!
I actually think he looks quite sinister with it on, so it was quite nice to meet the man 'un-masked' and to discover that he is not so scary after all. Anthony has also 'released' a CD with a song on it - tube related - called "Stand on the right please", and was selling copies of it yesterday. You can find the full story of it all on his own website here. But the point was, we couldn't resist sticking a sign up in the pub that said "No dust masks - not in the current climate". At least we think he found it funny funny! Thanks to Jack as well for being the 'hat man', and official starting time keeper, and getting everybody off the blocks at different times! Would have been a very disorganised beginning without you mate, much appreciated! Other write-ups There is another write-up on Stroppycows site, and Chris (18th place) a write up on his site here, whilst Hakan (the winner) has now put his complete write up online here. Additonal photos
I think this is Caption Contest worthy material, so click on the 'comments' link please to suggest your captions!
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"Annual
event right?", I'd written at the end of 
For
the starting station I'd told Jack to say something along the lines of
There
was then a small piece of confusion at the start as I said that we'd "go"
on the first trains after 1pm, but as everyone appeared to be ready 10
minutes before, we got things underway and we set people off on trains.
And
we all met at the pub! The Horse & Groom in Great Portland Street,
handy with its tables outside on the pavement so those not-quite-of-legal-pub-age
could still loiter about outside.
It
turned out that they went the wrong way (oops!) from St. James
park at the beginning (they went west instead of east) and ended up repeating
a section of the Piccadilly Line which cost them dear. But they had a
great day, had some fun t-shirts, and came very close to winning the 'best
team name' too. 
Zone
1 'virgins" 
When
A
hot favourite to win the day, surely? 
With
apologies for the appallingly bad blurred photo, 
We
think perhaps that 
Now
young 
Winning
the 'best team name' (scant consolation at not winning the whole thing?!)
were
Awww,
bless .. don't we look like a lovely gay couple in that picture? Don't
panic folks, 
A
seemingly initially shy 
So
... who would you have tipped to win the Zone 1 Challenge then, someone
from London? At the very least someone from England? No!
Special
mention must go to all those that made their own t-shirts, our favourites
being 18th placed Chris & Andrew who had the slogan 'Stand on the
f**king right' on the backs of theirs!
A
big 'thanks' also to 
A
fair amount of good humoured ribbing also went the way of 'Underground
Masker' Anthony (4th place) who takes it upon himself to 
