Jailbreak raises £29k on charity hitch hike

Hundreds of students fled Warwick campus on the morning of November 5 in an attempt to get as far away as possible in 36 hours without spending a single penny on transport.

Few will not have heard of Warwick Jailbreak, a charity hitch-hiking event which takes place every year. The spectacle of hundreds of students, many clad in crazy costumes, fleeing the Piazza at 9am on a Saturday morning, is a sight not to be missed. Teams of 2-5 have from 9am until 9pm the next day to travel as far as possible.

This year’s event raised over £29,000 for Practical Action, an international development charity which provides practical solutions for deprived communities.

The team which got the furthest, ‘T Block 7’, managed to reach Naples, Italy, having travelled a total of 1130 miles.

Mindaugas Valiulus, a second-year Economics student, made it to Dresden, Germany, describing his experience as simply “awesome”.

When asked about the organisation of the event, he said: “[The exec] did quite a good job. They gave us these booklets with all the information and translations – that was really nice. You could see that they put quite a lot of effort in it.”

Taking part in Jailbreak almost guarantees having some crazy experiences. Tasha Newman, who reached Bilbao in Spain, recounted how she and her team “accidentally broke into an airport”. They also “received a hitch from an architect called Harry from Bordeaux to Biarritz and he bought us dinner which consisted of oysters, pate, red wine, cheese and apple sorbet. Got to be the best free meal ever.”

During last year’s event, dozens of students received fines in excess of £60 for travelling from Coventry to London Euston on Virgin Trains without a valid ticket. This issue seems to have been cleared up this year, as all participants were warned against using Virgin’s services.

The exec worked hard to ensure that Jailbreak 2011 ran smoothly.

“It was very successful,” said Publicity Officer Ollie Stidwell. “Most of the teams aiming to get out of the country did so and the winning team hitchhiked the whole way.”

Last year, the winning team reached Bangkok, Thailand, and the 2008 winners reached Los Angeles, California.

When asked about this, Stidwell replied: “Well, those teams had prearranged air travel, so although it’s an impressive feat, the real spirit of Jailbreak is in the hitchhiking adventures.”

Oli Hiscoe, a spokesperson for Choose a Challenge, the sponsors of the event, proclaimed the event a success: “Year on year Warwick is one of the best Jailbreaks in the UK and this year was no different.”

He commented further: “It’s really great to see that over £29,000 has been made for such a worthy cause. It shows that the students of Warwick are not just adventurous, they’re charitable too.”