If, while waiting for a train at Chesham station one morning, you glance over to see a few super-excited joggers holding a stopwatch, video camera and a dozen energy bars, think nothing of it – unless you happen to see them again sixteen hours later exiting a train at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. In that case, offer to sign their logbook. You could be a witness to history.
The Guinness Book of Records credits R. J. Lewis and D. R. Longley with completing the frst Tube Challenge on June 13 1959. Since then, the game has evolved with the Tube map. Yet the essential rule remains: visit every station. To do so requires meticulous planning; endurance helps too for running between stations. Given the efort involved, Tube Challengers are understandably secretive about their routes.
Andi James and Steve Wilson only released their record-setting route from 2009 (adapted here) after setting a new record – 16 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds – on May 27 2011. The mark stood for two years before Geoff Marshall and Anthony Smith beat it by eight minutes and forty-six seconds on August 16 2013. Then on February 19 2015, Ronan McDonald and Clive Burgess did it in 16 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds.
The basics
1. You don’t have to cover every stretch of track or step on every platform, but you must arrive at or depart from every Underground station by train. (Overground, National Rail and Docklands Light Railway stations not included).
2. You may take buses or run between stations.
3. You must keep a log.
4. An independent witness must start and stop a master stopwatch at the beginning and end of the attempt.
For a full list of rules, go to www.tubeforum.co.uk/rules
• Quiz: How well do you know the London Underground?
The route
See a high resolution version of the whole route
START 6:20am
Chesham – take the Metropolitan line to Amersham, then Watford, then North Harrow.
Run 0.7 miles to Rayners Lane.
Rayners Lane - take the Piccadilly line to Ealing Common, then the District line to Ealing Broadway, then the Central line to East Acton and then to West Ruislip.
Run 0.7 miles to Ickenham.
Photo: LONDON: THE INFORMATION CAPITAL
Ickenham - take the Metropolitan line to Uxbridge then Preston Road, then Northwick Park.
Run 0.3 miles to Kenton.
Kenton - take the Bakerloo line to Harrow and Wealdstone, then to Elephant and Castle. Then take the Northern line to London Bridge, the Jubilee line to Southwark and then West Ham, and the District line to Upminster and then Tower Hill.
Tower Hill - take the Circle line to Aldgate, then Sloane Square, then Victoria. Then take the Victoria line to Brixton, then to Stockwell, then the Northern line to Kennington and then Morden.
Run 1.6 miles to Wimbledon.
Photo: LONDON: THE INFORMATION CAPITAL
Wimbledon - take the District line to Kensington (Olympia).
Run 0.9 miles to Shepherd's Bush.
Shepherd's Bush - take the Central line to Woodford (via Hainault), then to Epping, then to Snaresbrook.
Run 2.2 miles to Walthamstow Central.
Photo: LONDON: THE INFORMATION CAPITAL
Walthamstow Central - take the Victoria line to Warren Street, then the Northern line to Goodge Street and then Edgware.
Run 1 mile to Canons Park.
Canons Park - take the Jubilee line to Stanmore, then Baker Street, then the Circle line to Moorgate, then the Northern line to High Barnet (including a detour to Mill Hill East).
Run 2.3 miles to Cockfosters.
Cockfosters - take the Piccadilly line to South Kensington, then the Circle line to Edgware Road, then the District line to Richmond, then Acton Town.
Finally, take the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow Terminal 5 (via 4, and 1, 2, & 3).
FINISH 11:04pm.
Photo: LONDON: THE INFORMATION CAPITAL
London: The Information Capital, by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti, features 100 maps and infographics that document life in the capital. See theinformationcapital.com for more information.
• The London Underground's most beautiful stations
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