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The Zone 1 Challenge 2004
On the 30th of July, 2004 a group of tube enthusiasts got together and organised the inaugural Zone 1 Challenge. The idea was startlingly simple - travel to all the stations within LU Zone 1 in the shortest time. Several teams entered and it was decided that everyone would start at Vauxhall station due to its 'remoteness' in Zone 1.
From there, most people changed at Victoria as the various teams went their separate ways. The teams met up after the challenge to discover who had completed all 64 stations in the fastest time (as in the full Tube Challenge, Paddington counts as two stations and both must be visited).
The results were as follows:
1. Steve Paull - 2 hours, 55 minutes, 50 seconds
2. Ewan Spence and Tom Reynolds - 2 hours, 55 minutes, 50 seconds
3. Adham Fisher - 2 hours, 59 minutes, 19 seconds
4. David Scard and David Perrin - 3 hours, 2 minutes, 49 seconds
5. Peter Smythe - 3 hours, 2 minutes, 49 seconds
6. Geoff Marshall and Neil Blake - 3 hours, 4 minutes, 3 seconds
7. Jodie Armstrong and Mark Hurn - 3 hours, 10 minutes, 57 seconds
8. Samuel Robinson and Joe Boyle - 3 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds
9. John Sanders - 3 hours, 31 minutes, 21 seconds
Note: Peter Smythe and the two Davids had exactly the same route, hence identical times. Geoff and Neil have pointed out that had they not had to wait 13 minutes for a train at Waterloo they would have won (well, you can't hold every record can you?)
Also, John didn't start from Vauxhall with everyone else. If anyone knows where he DID start, could you let us know please? :-)
You can find a personal write up of the day, and more pictures, on Geoff Marshall's website. It also made the BBC London News. You can watch the report here.
Plans are already afoot for the second Zone 1 Challenge to take place some time in the Summer of 2005. Watch this site.
The Challengers were (from left to right) Sam, Steve, Joe (back), David Perrin, David Scard, Tom (back), Neil, Geoff (kneeling), Ewan (kilt obscured), Adham, Jodie, Mark.
Steve Paull with his winning route