The person to defeat now appears to be Zach Lincoln (19), a university student who ran for office at the end of the year. He arrived at Ashburn in 7 hours, 40 minutes, and 5 seconds after leaving Franconia Springfield, which was 23 minutes, 55 seconds faster than the group of University of Chicago students who set the record over the summer.
“My secret was just to run and hope to get there on time and hope there were no delays,” Lincoln said. Lincoln has lived in the area his whole life, and he thought speedrunning was the right thing to do when there was nothing else on the calendar. “I’m still kind of surprised that I did it.”
High-speed subway systems have long been popular In some cities, records date back to 1960 in London. But the idea is still relatively new in the Washington area, at least as far as documented efforts are concerned. Guinness World Records 7 hours 59 minutes The record was set in 2019, but with the opening of the Silver Line extension in 2022 and a new station opening this year, that record is now outdated. So, with the terrain wide open and metro services back to pre-pandemic levels, the number of attempts has surged this year.
While running is mostly a lot of fun, the growing community of speedrunners sees themselves as advocates for the Metro system, which faces potentially catastrophic budget shortfalls. After several attempts, 16-year-old Claire Aguayo launched a server on the chat platform Discord this fall to allow racers to exchange notes and record their rides.
“Disaster is looming for Metro and other transportation systems in the region, and if these services are cut, someone may not be able to break this record again,” Aguayo said. “We are doing our part to spread awareness about this issue.”
Planning a memorable run requires careful planning.
Rules used by Guinness to track times at least a dozen times The city says trains must stop at each station along their route. This means there are only a few weeks out of the year when maintenance work doesn’t interfere with record attempts.
Then, of course, there’s the issue of the route itself. Generally, the strategy is to start at one of the suburban ends of the system and work your way from there. But record-setters scrutinize timetables in search of the fastest connections. Under Guinness regulations, passengers are allowed to travel between stations and change buses, but are prohibited from taking taxis or Ubers.
University of Chicago student Hugh Ballinger, 21, learned about speedrunning after watching YouTube videos and decided to give it a try, along with friends Benjamin Kreisworth, 20, and Benjamin Jaffer ( 21 years old). They first planned to run it in Chicago, then briefly tried running it in Washington this summer during the mass shutdown.
After what appeared to be a near-perfect day, they set a record time of 8 hours and 4 minutes.
“Basically, every train we took was exactly like the train we expected to take,” Kreisworth said.
The trio carefully documented their escape, recording video of the entire action and collecting signatures from witnesses. They hope to submit evidence to Guinness and officially claim the record. A Guinness spokesperson said the application was still under review.
The run caught the attention of Metro general manager Randy Clark, who said he sometimes follows him on social media.
“It’s heartening to see people using the system in this way, not just as a way to get to their destination, but as part of their enjoyment of the journey,” Clark said in a statement. “I enjoy following on social media. We work hard to provide services often to help someone set a new record.”
The current Guinness World Record holder is Scott Bennett (32). He moved to Washington in 2019 and realized he didn’t have time to get Metro into the Guinness Archives, so he took on the challenge.
“I knew I was probably going to get in because I would be the first person to officially do it, but I wanted to do it properly and really set the bar,” said Bennett, a federal employee. I was a transportation geek then, and I am now.
He planned his route and studied the escalator layouts to get to the stations where he needed to change trains. Metro Check your car doors to assess where you can most efficiently board. Bennett attempted it on December 16, 2019, and estimates he lost about 25 minutes due to the winter weather. After a long review, the Guinness certificate arrived by mail in March 2021.
Since then, Bennett has been eyeing challengers and said he would consider defending his record. He found a route that he thought could shave several minutes off the time set by the Chicago students.
“Half of me is like, ‘Pass the torch to the young people.’ The other half of me is like, ‘God bless you, I have to be the best,'” he said. “Is there a way to defeat this? Is there a faster way?”
Then Lincoln came along and answered the question with a resounding yes.
He appears to have been given a boost by the increase in subway service that began in the fall, making him a small dent in the record. He said there were moments during his run when unforeseen circumstances upended his careful plans and shook his faith. But then a delay he didn’t want meant he was perfectly lined up for the train he needed.
“That saved me,” Lincoln said.