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Attempt 2
24th July 2008

Steven Karahan, Andi James and myself

The Tube Olympics were organised as a mini festival of events over a fortnight during July 2008, and following only 2 months after my first attempt formed the perfect excuse to go out and try again. Our team from the May attempt reformed and took out the same route to try again, with us all in the same roles as before – which meant a day of photography for me.

Three teams in total – ours, plus the Browns – Antony, Jamie, Kevin, Ryan & Phil, alongside John Stark and Ann Howell – and finally Ollie “Root” Lewisohn and Al Brown were out competing for the record on what turns out to be a swelteringly hot summer’s day.

All teams met at Amersham for the start, and, funnily enough, did the same few first changes to end up jostling for door position at North Harrow. Teams took various routes from here, and our route was shared with that of Team Brown, and we ended up in a running race. Both teams had their faster and slower runners, and Andi ended up in the first group of arrivals at the destination alongside Starkey and Antony. I arrived next, with Jamie (of the Browns) and Steve right behind me. A train was coming in which I and Andi were able to get – we shouted back for Steve and he scraped through the door just in time – but the rest of Team Brown had not made it and so they had to wait for the next train. Already the day seemed to be going our way… Mini boosts like this are the kind of thing you need on a tube challenge – and this was a double boost, as the train we caught was running earlier than our schedule, and we knew the other team were behind us – their route differed fundamentally anyway, but to get ahead of them was a massive bonus.

Luck stayed in our favour a little bit more as we were able to pick up a train we were due to miss by running ahead of schedule, and gain even more time on our schedule. This was to continue – per se – throughout the day, but it would be misleading to say we had stellar luck – it was just that we didn’t then experience any real bad luck, bar a single near 20 minute wait at one stage…

Other notable moments, in no particular order -

• at Richmond the driver saw our T-shirts (for we were sporting “Tube Olympics 2008″ t-shirts) and had a chat with us. He then proceeded to wish us luck over the PA just before he departed!
• having left them earlier in the day, we found ourselves on the same train as the Browns again before and after the Ickenham/West Ruislip run. This meant we heard Antony’s now trademark outburst at the “slow” driver on the Central Line. To say he wasn’t happy was an understatement…
• deciding last minute to change the plan on the fly and try to take out a low frequency section earlier than scheduled. The passenger opposite us must have worked out what was going on and told us that we would, in her opinion, not make the new connection we had now given ourselves. We did though – just!
• I had the worlds most satisfying pi** on a National Rail train having been holding on for what felt like days… (but probably wasn’t all that long really!)
• We encountered roadworks whilst bussing between two stations and so bailed out and ran the rest of the route on foot. It was warm and unpleasant but undoubtedly stopped us falling behind.

It was now evening peak and we found ourselves changing lines at a busy station. The change wasn’t the longest in the world but it was evidently enough so. As our train pulled in we were one door away from the perfect door position from the exit, and Andi and Steve K shot off in front of me and were able to make it before the rest of the train made the platform horrendously busy – which is what I encountered. I have changed at busy stations before and you gain a sixth sense for where gaps are going to appear between people and go for them, so I wasn’t slow moving by any means. The change was the best you would ever hope for, and I could see ahead the others get on a waiting train, where Martin Hazel had met them with drinks. I was no more than 5 seconds behind then but the doors started to close – I shouted and Andi – sat on the floor of the train recovering from the run, tried to put his foot in the door – but to no avail. The train went without me, and I fell to the floor myself, gutted and thinking it was all over. We were 20 minutes ahead of schedule at that stage and I knew the record was there for the taking – our schedule BROKE the record by twenty minutes, so we were a net 40 minutes up on the world record.

I had to wait 5 minutes for the next train, in which time I had convinced myself that the guys would have waited at the next change, so I boarded the train and went to the next change – there I found Martin, who explained to me that the team had continued with the route and would be waiting for me at Finchley Central, where they had calculated I would catch them by. So I continued with the route too, logging and taking photos as I went, hoping we could reform our team, still visit all the stations and forget the separation ever occurred if we indeed did go on the break the record. As I got to East Finchley, where the underground goes above ground, I rang Andi. He was indeed at Finchley Central where their train was due to depart. I asked, pleaded, begged them to wait – but the carrot of the infrequent Mill Hill East service in front of them proved to much, and they went on. I got to Finchley Central and, as Martin went ahead to High Barnet, mulled over my options. Wipe the camera with all the days photos on? Tempting. Do Mill Hill East on the next train myself and still try to catch them later? Again, tempting. I elected to be the bigger man. I would try and ask them to redo Mill Hill East with me, and if they wouldn’t, become their support for the rest of the day and not bear a grudge.

Unsurprisingly to me but not to some whom have heard this story afterwards, they elected to not repeat Mill Hill East and reform the team, so that station would remain undone by me that day as I followed on as support for the rest of the trip. The record was smashed and my team, minus me, was overjoyed. I felt a little subdued – as you would expect – but still happy for them. I was determined to stay level-headed and not be drawn into any finger pointing and blame-mongering that anyone tried to provoke – bar a single questioning of events on the tube forum where it transpired that it was assumed I had made the train. These things happen and I cannot blame my team-mates for it, even if it turned out it was their fault. If I had not let them get ahead of me, I would not have been left behind, and so I could only blame myself for the matter. Wish they’d waited yes, but not blame them for not doing…

Stations visited: 268/269
Time taken: 17 hours, 12 minutes and 43 seconds
Then Record: 17 hours, 56 minutes and 11 seconds
Would have broken it by: 43 minutes and 28 seconds - but I missed a train and therefore skipped Mill Hill East

The thread discussing the attempt is available on the Tube Challenge forum here
Andi wrote his own account of this day on his website here