Sprinter who beat the Tube outruns Thames Clipper boat

The challenge involved dodging pedestrians along London’s South Bank

He’s beaten a tube train, now sprinter James Heptonstall can add a Thames Clipper boat to the list of London transport he’s outrun.

The 30-year-old England Touch Rugby player and his friend Noel Carroll took on the challenge back in November.

The pair raced along the South Bank of the River Thames to beat the boat as it sailed one stop from the London Eye to Bankside Pier.

They had to cover 2.2km in under eight-and-a-half minutes and run over five bridges to beat the boat. The duo also had to contend with many pedestrians along the way as they ran through the tourist hotspot.

Despite the obstacles, they managed to complete the challenge and even waited as the boat arrived at the pier.

“We did look at maybe doing another part of the London Underground network but we thought we would change it up a little bit and race the Thames Clipper,” Heptonstall told London Live.

“We did it at 10’o clock in the morning and it was surprisingly still quite busy and dodging in and out of tourists and other people enjoying the River Thames. It was tricky one with the pedestrians,” he said.

Watch James Heptonstall and Noel Carroll beat the boat

Heptonstall says that he has started thinking about the next challenge and is “definitely going to be doing something else”.

Back in July Heptonstall filmed his mad dash to beat a Tube train as it travelled between Mansion House and Cannon Street stations on the Circle Line.

The freerunner managed to make the 380 metre run in one minute and 20 seconds. He jumped onto the tube just as it pulled into Cannon Street station to the applause of commuters in the carriage.

The footage of his incredible feat went viral and racked up over 5 million views, with people in other countries replicating the challenge on their subway systems.