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1. 2:22:33 John Stark
2. 2:27:23 Antony, Jamie
& Phil Brown
3. 2:39:05 Ollie Lewisohn
4. 3:02:09 Martin Hazel
The South London Challenge was devised by Ollie Lewisohn in 2006, with the first official times for the Challenge set on 17th July 2006. The object of the challenge is quite simple, visit all London Underground stations which are south of the Thames. Surprisingly there are very few, in fact only 33 of 275 stations are south of the river. Normal tube challenge rules apply.
Inaugural Challenge, report by Ollie Lewisohn
Heading down to the Westbound platforms at North Greenwich for the start of the South London Challenge, I suggested we shared our plans to try and avoid all of us following identical routes. Indeed, all three of us had a Kew Gardens finish and the same way of getting there.
Upon arrival at Canada Water, we headed to the Southbound East London Line platform and saw 4 minutes on the board. I decided to take the initiative and check the Northbound platform, which said 2 minutes. Sneakily, I didn't let this on until the train was pulling in, forcing Starkey into a mad and confused dash over the tracks and leaving Tangy behind. Starkey and I had a very, very tight connection at Rotherhithe, which I was expecting, which we only made thanks to the driver re-opening his doors. Tangy didn't seem too pleased when we re-joined him at Canada Water.
The rest of the East London Line went as you'd expect, with the usual 12-minute gap between New Cross Gate and New Cross. Starkey and I had the advantage of alighting at Canada Water on the way back, whilst Tangy had to double back at Rotherhithe.
Starkey and I decided to split up at Oval - he would run/bus it to Vauxhall and then do the Brixton double, while I decided to double up both Brixton and Vauxhall. The comparison was skewed by a long wait for my Southbound Victoria train, followed by a stop-start passage into Brixton whilst waiting for the platforms to clear. I saw Tangy again at Vauxhall, but again gained some ground whilst he had to do Brixton, which I had already visited. I knew, however, that Starkey had almost certainly pulled ahead.
Everything then went fine until I got to Putney National Rail Station - I spoke on the phone to Starkey and found out he was on the slow train before me, while my fast train was due in two minutes. Except it was then delayed by eight minutes, and then waited around for two minutes on the platform. The few minutes I would have gained on the fast train were meaningless, and Starkey came back to Richmond to meet me after he had finished. We then both got supplies at Kew Gardens and headed down to Richmond AGAIN to finally meet Tangy, who had had a disastrous bus connection at South Wimbledon, waiting 6 minutes only for three buses to arrive at once, staying true to the famous saying. As such, his time slipped onto the wrong side of three hours.
The South London Stations:
Balham
Bermondsey
Borough
Brixton
Canada Water
Clapham Common
Clapham North
Clapham South
Colliers Wood
East Putney
Elephant & Castle
Kennington
Kew Gardens
Lambeth North
London Bridge
Morden
*New Cross
*New Cross Gate
North Greenwich
Oval
Richmond
*Rotherhithe
South Wimbledon
Southfields
Southwark
Stockwell
*Surrey Quays
Tooting Bec
Tooting Broadway
Vauxhall
Waterloo
Wimbledon
Wimbledon Park
*No longer included since the ELL closed
Our Challenge Attempt - 27th May 2007
Myself, Phillip & Jamie decided to have a crack at John Starks record on a very wet & cold Sunday in May. We were heading for Twickenham later in the day to watch Rugby 7's, so it seemed logical to plan a route which included the South London Challenge on the way to Twickers!
The best route seemed to be starting at Kew Gardens & finishing at North Greenwich, although when John had set the record he had done the reverse, he also had the benefit of a weekday service as opposed to the Sunday service we faced.
With some careful planning a record seemed to be possible even with a Sunday service. The 3 intrepid challengers set off from Kew Gardens with high hopes.
Phil & Jamie, looking mean and in the mood for a record=>
Our train left Kew Gardens at 08:49 which was excellent news as it meant that we were already 1 minute ahead of schedule!
We had a very good change and a run where we "gave it the beans". Rather stupidly we elected not to hop on a bus which could have spared us some of those beans, however this mistake did not cost us our next connection.
In fact we had already made time up, we had been due to depart East Putney at 09:09 but we actually departed at 09:05. This now put us five minutes up on schedule.
Jamie had used a lot of beans on the run, but it was worth it for a good connection at East Putney =>
The next bit of fun came at Wimbledon. One never knows exactly what will happen upon arrival at Wimbledon. Would it be the tram to Morden Road or First Capital Connect to South Merton? Both of these options would then involve a long run in the rain to Morden.
The best option would be a bus, hopefully straight to Morden or failing this one to South Wimbledon for a double back to Morden.
As we got to the top of the stairs at Wimbledon, Jamie spotted a 93 bus, so we gave more beans as we dashed towards the ticket barriers, jumped the steps outside the station and sprinted to bus stop D.
Amazingly we made the bus, Phil was very red in the cheeks =>
The bus to Morden took around 10 minutes in the rain.
Upon arrival at Morden we dashed across the road and I almost ran straight in front of a bus. Upon entering the station Jamie decided it would be a good idea to slide around the corner and test how hard the floor was. Very hard was the answer as he went smashing to the ground.
We had a few minutes wait for our train to depart as the Northern line was running with minor delays, however, by the time we departed we were now ten minutes up on schedule, and on paper ahead a Starkey.
We await departure from Morden, now on schedule for a record =>
When we depart from Morden we head underground, and eventually arrive at Stockwell.
For the next twenty minutes or so things are quite frantic as we have a variety of double backs and quick interchanges between Northern, Victoria & Bakerloo lines.
We had an incredibly sexy cross platform change at Vauxhall, having been in the wrong door position we managed to spint across and dive into the southbond service as the doors beeped and slammed shut.
A couple of minutes held at Brixton did not cost us any time and we departed still ten minutes ahead of schedule.
A "local train" for "local people" destination Royston Vasey =>
We only have to wait a couple of minutes at Stockwell for a northbound Northern line service as we decide to head up to Borough for a double back.
Upon departure from Stockwell I calculate we are now nine minutes ahead of schedule and neck & neck with Starkey. If the remainder of the journey goes to plan the record will be very close.
We arrive Kennington in very good time, and then everything goes horribly wrong. We are held for about five minutes and the driver apologises for the delay, "we are being held waiting for the train behind to close the gap", whilst all this goes on we see a Charing Cross branch train arrive and depart, In hindsight we should have taken this train.
It always seems to be the Northern Line that lets us down =>
We arrive at E & C, still hopefull that a quick connection will get us back on schedule. But our hopes are dashed. There are two trains in the station and very shortly one is ready to depart and has a green signal. Eventually after a five minute wait the driver (Tez) casually walks down the platform, only to get a tongue lashing from the station supervisor (she was not best pleased...)
Our last hope to pull some time back is at Waterloo, our scheduled connection to Jubilee line is 5 minutes, but by using some more beans we might just make a 1 minute connection. We yell at people on escalators & travelator to stand on the right and somehow we make the 1 minute connection. A decent time is back on the cards.
Watching you, watching me, Phillip & Jamie reflect on their day =>
Enjoy it while you still can, it's Phil's favourite, the East London Line.
This section goes okay for us although we do make a slight error of judgement by heading north first and spending a few minutes more at Rotherhithe than we would have liked. It gives us time to take a couple more snaps and prepare ourselves for the wet jog from New Cross to New Cross Gate.
Apart from the carriage to New Cross smelling like a mixture of bad body odour and halitosis the journey is otherwise uneventful.
Phil & Jamie give the ELL the thumbs up =>
Back at Canada Water there is time for a quick go of the "Canada Water Gurning Game", who's gurning do you think is best?
Phillip
Antony
Jamie
The challenge is complete, we arrive at North Greenwich four minutes ahead of schedule but unfortunately nearly five minutes outside the record.
