The Tube Challenge is the accepted name for the Guinness World Record attempt to visit all the stations on the London Underground network in the fastest time possible. Participants do not have to travel along all lines to complete the challenge, merely to pass through all the stations on the system. Participants may connect between stations on foot, or by using other forms of public transport.
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The first recorded challenge took place in 1959. Although many people have attempted the challenge and held the record since, they have not always been credited in the record books. In the earlier days of the challenge, participants were permitted to use private forms of transport (such as a car or bike) to move between stations. This led to times of less than 16 hours in some earlier records, and Guinness later changed the rules to ban private transport.
The following is a list of record holders that have appeared in the Guinness Book of Records. The record did not appear in the book until its eighth edition.
| Date | Record Holder(s) | Stations | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1960 | George Hurst & Jane Barwick[1] | 264 | 18 hours, 35 minutes |
| 9 September 1961 | J Birch, B Phillips & N Storr[2] | 264 | 18 hours, 9 minutes |
| 3 December 1960 | K A Branch and J Branch[3] | 273 | 20 hours, 0 minutes |
| 22 August 1963 | Christopher Niekirk[3] | 272 | 14 hours, 58 minutes |
| 4 July 1964 | A Mortimer, J P Herting, D Corke & G Elliot[4] | 272 | 14 hours, 17 minutes |
| 7 September 1965 | Alan Paul Jenkins[4] | 273 | 16 hours, 57 minutes |
| 1 November 1966 | Leslie Burwood[5] | 273 | 15 hours, 53 minutes |
| 1 September 1967 | Leslie Burwood[6] | 277 | 14 hours, 33 minutes |
| 3 September 1968 | Leslie Burwood[7] | 277 | 15 hours, 0 minutes |
| 27 June 1969 | Anthony Durkin and Peter Griffiths[8] | 277 | 16 hours, 5 minutes |
| 20 May 1980 | John & Stephen Trafford[9] | 278 | 18 hours, 3 minutes |
| 3 December 1981 | Colin Mulvany[10] | 277 | 17 hours, 37 minutes |
| 14 April 1986 | Robert Robinson, Peter David Robinson, John Garde, Timothy John Clark[11] | 272 | 19 hours, 51 minutes, 14 seconds |
| 30 July 1986 | Robert Robinson, Peter David Robinson, Timothy Robinson, Timothy Clark, Richard Harris[12] | 272 | 18 hours, 41 minutes, 41 seconds |
| 4 October 1994 | Robert Robinson, Tom McLaughlin[13] | 270 | 18 hours, 18 minutes, 9 seconds |
| 16 March 2000 | Robert Robinson, Chris Loxton, Chris Stubley, Chris Whiteoak, Olly Rich and Adam Waller[14] | 272 | 19 hours, 57 minutes, 47 seconds |
Between the 1960s and 1990s the record regularly appeared in the Guinness Book of Records, initially listed under "Underground Railways - circuit of", but later just under "Railways" and then "Trains". Since the change of publishing style of the book from the 2001 edition onwards, the record - although frequently broken - has only once appeared in printed form, in the 2008 edition. More recent records have tended to be published online instead.
On 3 April 2002 Jack Welsby set a new record time by traversing the system in 19 hours, 18 minutes and 45 seconds.[15] Welsby made just one attempt, starting his route at Heathrow and finishing at Amersham.
This time was beaten on the 4th May 2004 by Geoff Marshall and Neil Blake who achieved a new record time of 18 hours 35 minutes and 43 seconds.[16] Their attempt began on the first train out of Amersham on the Metropolitan Line and ended at Upminster, and took Guinness World Records four months to ratify it.[17] A previous attempt had been broadcast on TV as part of The Tube TV series and another attempt had been televised as part of Metroland in 2004.[18]
Although this time stood for two years before being beaten by just five seconds, it was not until Håkan Wolgé and Lars Andersson (both from Sweden) set a new record time for a network of 275 stations that it appeared in the Guinness Book of Records again, in the 2008 edition.[19] They set a new record of 18 hours, 25 minutes and 3 seconds, on the 26th September 2006.
Changes to the network (and the total number of stations) meant the record was 'reset' and broken three more times during 2007 and 2008. In March 2008, Heathrow Terminal 5 opened as a new station and 'reset' the record with the total number of stations to visit now at 269. Shortly after Andi James, Martin Hazel and Sara Wearn set a new time on 8 July 2008 [20] of 17 hours, 56 minutes and 11 seconds.
Although the total number of stations to visit became 270 in October 2008 when Wood Lane station opened, Guinness ruled that it was not a significant enough change to warrant a record reset.
James beat his own record on July 24, 2008, with a time of 17 hours, 12 minutes 43 seconds. On the 4th of December 2009, the record was beaten by Samantha Cawley with a time of 17 hours, 2 minutes, 23 seconds.
On the 14th December 2009, previous record holders James and Hazel, accompanied this time by another former holder Steve Wilson, achieved a record time of 16 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds.[21]
This was considered an extremely hard time to beat, and the record remained unbeaten for 17 months. However improvements to the London Underground such as a new Jubilee Line service[22] and an improved Victoria Line[23] as well as general network upgrades meant that the service became more reliable, and faster times were possible.
This was proved so when Marc Gawley from Denton, Greater Manchester set a new time of 16 hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds on the 21st April 2011.[24][25] As a fast marathon runner, he revealed that he did not use any buses on the day, preferring instead to make all his connections on foot.
Marc's record lasted for just thirty six days, when previous record holders Andi James and Steve Wilson shaved just 44 seconds off of the time, setting a new record time of 16 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds on the 27th May 2011.[26]
It is quite common for people to attempt the challenge and be sponsored for it — often on a 'pence per station' basis, or a complete sum for travelling the whole network.[27] Attempts have been linked to charities such as Children in Need[28][29] and Comic Relief.[30]
Other recent attempts have included a Cambridge University student in 2006,[31] and a pub landlord from Reading.[32]
A charity attempt known as 'Tube Relief' took place following the 7 July 2005 London bombings to raise money for the London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund. Fifty one people, including a New Orleans police captain rode the entire tube network for the day,[33] raising over £10,000 towards the official charity fund.
Richard Graham attempted the record on the 19th February 2010, raising money for Tearfund, a Christian organisation which uses funds for churches in third-world countries.[34]
Others have also recorded their chairty attempts online in the form of video blogging[35] and traditional blogging[36].
A Sue Ryder charity event took place on 9 November 2011, where ten teams competed against each other to have their photo taken outside as many of the 270 stations as possible.[37]
A smaller version of the challenge — in which only the Zone 1 stations are visited — is also frequently undertaken by people who don't want to do the whole thing, sometimes for charity purposes.[38]
Richie Firth from Absolute Radio raised the profile of challenging by announcing a record attempt,[39] as part of the Christian O'Connell breakfast show. Although a test run was made, the attempt was postponed due to Richie failing a medical.