The objective of the Subway Challenge is to navigate the entire New York City Subway system in the shortest time possible. This ride is also known as the Rapid Transit Challenge and the "Ultimate Ride".
There are two primary variations of this challenge:
There is a third variation (Class A) which requires riders to cover all lines of the system. More specifically that means "During the run, the contestants making the run must traverse completely at least once each segment of right-of-way of the Transit Authority system. Each segment may be traversed either in one continuous transit or in any number of partial transits between stations on the segment."
The three classes of rides (A, B and C) are defined by the Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee (ANYSRC), created by Peter Samson in 1966.
Guinness World Records recognizes what is essentially the Class B rules as the official world record. The only difference between the rides defined by Guinness and the ANYSRC, is ANYSRC rides must be completed on a single fare while the Guinness rules allow for "transfers between subway lines must be made by scheduled public transport or on foot. The use of private motor vehicles, taxis or any other form of privately arranged transport (bicycles, skateboards, etc.) is not allowed." The complete Guinness rules can be found on the Rapid Transit Challenge website, and are similar to the rules for the London Tube Challenge.
Contents |
| Date | Record Holder(s) | Stations | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 June 1966 | Michael Feldman and James Brown[1] | All stations | 23 hours, 16 minutes |
| 12/13 December 1988 | Rich Temple, Phil Vanner and Tom Murphy[2] | All stations | 29 hours, 47 minutes |
| 28/29 December 2006 | Bill Amarosa Jr., Michael Boyle, Brian Brockmeyer, Stefan Karpinski, Jason Laska and Andrew Weir | All stations | 24 hours, 54 minutes, 3 seconds |
| 22 January 2009 | Matt Ferrisi and Chris Solarz | All stations | 22 hours, 52 minutes, 36 seconds |
On September 17, 2010, Guinness World Records confirmed that Matt Ferrisi and Chris Solarz set a new record during their January 22, 2009 attempt with an official time of 22:52:36.
The 28/29 December 2006 attempt became known as 'The Subway Six' in the press, as all were classmates at Regis High School in Manhattan and represent all five boroughs of New York City, with the sixth member hailing from New Jersey. Bill Amarosa was a life-long railfan and had discussed a record attempt while they were in high school, but it was conversation at their 10-year reunion on June 17, 2006 that sparked planning for the attempt. From conception to execution, the record attempt took six months, but Guinness took five months to confirm the record and nine months to send the team an official record certificate.
On August 23–24, 2006, Donald Badaczewski and Matt Green made a run setting the skip-stop record. During their run, a Class C attempt as defined by the Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee, they were required to pass through, but not necessarily stop at, each station. Thus they utilized express trains where possible to save time. They did this on a single fare, not exiting the system until the completion of the race. They posted a time of 24 hours, 2 minutes, successfully breaking the previous Class C record of 25 hours, 11 minutes for this feat set in 1998 by Salvatore Babones and Mike Falsetta.
Metro broke the story of this Class C record, which was then covered by many major news outlets, including the New York Times (where it was the most-emailed article), CNN, and Reuters. The Reuters story was subsequently picked up by newspapers around the world, in such countries as Scotland, Argentina, India, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Iran. An amNewYork article suggested that the news environment at the time created a perfect opening for such a lighthearted story. Pundits frequently questioned the pair on how they had relieved themselves during their journey. The two invariably answered that they had "held it" or "toughed it out", despite the fact that "it was tough".
On May 30, 1940, two days before the IRT, BMT, and IND were unified in 1940, Herman Rinke, an electric-railroad buff, became the first person to tour the entire system on a single 5-cent fare, doing it purely as a "sentimental gesture". Rinke rode the system for some 25 hours. Since then, more than 70 others – supposedly recorded in an unofficial file in the MTA Public Relations Department – rode the entire system.
Kevin Foster held the Guinness World Record for the full-system ride for over 17 years. He set the mark of 26 hours, 21 minutes on October 25, 1989. Searching for a diversion while training to become the first person to bicycle the entire length of The Great Wall in China, Kevin Foster opened up the Guinness Book of World Records to find another challenge. He decided that to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the New York subway system he would spend 85 consecutive hours on the subway, during which time he broke the record for stopping at every station.
Some have critiqued the Guinness record because the rules allow a rider to exit and re-enter the system during the course of the run. However, to date anyone attempting the Guinness Record has also followed the rules of the Class B attempt as defined by the Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee. Following both sets of rules means that the record will be officially validated and any critics of the Guinness rules have nothing to complain about because the participants also did it on a single fare.
The Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee is not an official body and does not validate any record attempts, nor does the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
There are 468 stations in the system (which must all be visited for the Class B record) and 421 multi-station complexes (necessary for the Class C record), on 26 different routes/lines. Challengers cover 660 miles of track in passenger service, while only being able to go the toilet at 78 of the stations.
The current record holders of the Class B record began their trip in Rockaway, Queens at Rockaway Park–Beach 116 Street and finished at Wakefield-241 Street in the Bronx.
The current record holders of the Class C record began their trip in Rockaway, Queens at Rockaway Park–Beach 116 Street and finished at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.
A 2004 Class B attempt to traverse the system was documented in a short film entitled New Lots.
A 2003 Class B attempt was the main topic of a Discovery Times Channel documentary on the subway.