What is the Moscow Metro Challenge World Record Attempt?
Carrying 2.5 billion passengers a year over its 340km of track to its 203 stations, the Moscow Metro is one of the busiest and largest rapid transit systems in the world. On Saturday 10 December 2016, we intend to set the official World Record for the fastest time to visit every single station. All 203 of them. By doing so, we want to raise as much money as possible for the magnificent but endangered Amur tigers through Bar BQ Cafe’s Tigrus Project. It’s a brilliant and worthy charity, about which you can discover more here. We will also host a party on the day of the challenge, at 19:00, on Saturday 10 December, at BQ Bar Café (Trubnaya Ploschad 2).
Like most of the harebrained challenges men set themselves, this one was hatched after several drinks. We realised that although there were official world records for visiting all the stations of the London Underground and New York Subway in the fastest possible times, there was no such record for the Moscow Metro – which is at least as historic, grand and magnificent as those two, and in the same league in terms of size. Wouldn’t it be great, we decided, if we could set the record for Moscow? Yes. Yes, it would. And after several more drinks, we decided that we’d be heroes.
How does the Moscow Metro Challenge work? We have matched our rules to our (more sober) assessment of those used for the Tube and Subway challenges in London and New York, respectively. They are:
We also discovered that Guinness World Records, publishers of the famous Guinness Book of World Records, has its own rules of authentication for the acceptance of such rapid transit challenges as official World Records.
For more about the rules click here
We have registered with Guinness World Records, and will submit our time and our authentication material immediately after the challenge. Then, hopefully, our idiocy will be justified and our narcissism stroked by appearing on their website and perhaps even in the Guinness Book of World Records itself.
The challenge will take place on Saturday 10 December. We will start in the concrete jungle beyond the south-eastern edge of Moscow at Kotelniki station in the early hours of the morning, and finish at Ploschad Revolutsi in the shadow of the Kremlin. Likely exhausted after a full day riding, running and interchanging in the subterranean depths without bathrooms or food, we’ll proceed directly after finishing to Bar BQ Café on Trubnaya Ploschad for a party, which will start at 19:00. We encourage you to join: beyond being a great place to drink, eat and catch up with friends, a portion of everything you spend will be donated to a great charity. If you think the charity is as worthy as we do, you’ll also be able to donate personally at the party, or, if you cannot make it that night, to one of us any time beforehand.
Like most of the harebrained challenges men set themselves, this one was hatched after several drinks. We realised that although there were official world records for visiting all the stations of the London Underground and New York Subway in the fastest possible times, there was no such record for the Moscow Metro – which is at least as historic, grand and magnificent as those two, and in the same league in terms of size. Wouldn’t it be great, we decided, if we could set the record for Moscow? Yes. Yes, it would. And after several more drinks, we decided that we’d be heroes.
How does the Moscow Metro Challenge work? We have matched our rules to our (more sober) assessment of those used for the Tube and Subway challenges in London and New York, respectively. They are:
- Every station on the Moscow Metro System must be visited.
- It is permissible to exit and enter the system during the challenge, and travel between the stations by means other than metro, but only by foot or publicly scheduled transport.
- Stations which are connected to one another, or which are geographically separate but share a name, or which have the same name and are connected, are classed as separate, individual stations.
- Stations may be visited, and stretches of track used, more than once.
- Only the stations of the Moscow Metro itself need be visited.
We also discovered that Guinness World Records, publishers of the famous Guinness Book of World Records, has its own rules of authentication for the acceptance of such rapid transit challenges as official World Records.
- A logbook of the journey must be kept.
- A master stopwatch must be kept by an independent witness to record the official time of the challenge.
- The challenge starts when the doors of the metro from the first station shut and end when the doors of the metro to the last station open.
- Additional independent witnesses are preferable but are not necessary.
- Photographic or video proof of visiting each station must be taken
For more about the rules click here
We have registered with Guinness World Records, and will submit our time and our authentication material immediately after the challenge. Then, hopefully, our idiocy will be justified and our narcissism stroked by appearing on their website and perhaps even in the Guinness Book of World Records itself.
The challenge will take place on Saturday 10 December. We will start in the concrete jungle beyond the south-eastern edge of Moscow at Kotelniki station in the early hours of the morning, and finish at Ploschad Revolutsi in the shadow of the Kremlin. Likely exhausted after a full day riding, running and interchanging in the subterranean depths without bathrooms or food, we’ll proceed directly after finishing to Bar BQ Café on Trubnaya Ploschad for a party, which will start at 19:00. We encourage you to join: beyond being a great place to drink, eat and catch up with friends, a portion of everything you spend will be donated to a great charity. If you think the charity is as worthy as we do, you’ll also be able to donate personally at the party, or, if you cannot make it that night, to one of us any time beforehand.