Photo: Warwick Jailbreak / Facebook
Photo: Warwick Jailbreak / Facebook

Jailbreak 2015: all roads lead to Rome

The eleventh edition of Warwick Jailbreak saw 118 students trying hitch-hike as far away from campus as possible in 36 hours with virtually no money.

The event, which commenced at 10am on the 7th of November, was established back in 2004 by Warwick student Paul Ratner. Ever since then, the university has been collaborating with and raising money for the charity Worldwide Cancer Research (WCR).

This year, teams made it to Oslo, Madrid and Amsterdam, with the winners travelling all the way to Rome.

The Mario Bros, made up of Oliver Elliott and Lewis Mitchell, both first-year students, managed to travel 1569 kilometers from campus to Rome without any kind of plan.

The duo ended up in Rome Photo: MLJailbreak15 / Twitter

After not being able to find willing drivers in the parking lot, they were given a lift from campus with a lady who was travelling back to London.

Once in central London, they made their way, via the Tube, to London Heathrow and were approached by a representative from British Airways. The suggestion was to look up last minute flights, the cheapest of them to Rome.

This then prompted frantic fundraising around Heathrow Airport. One man even donated £100 towards the flight.

Throughout those two days and the dozens of obstacles they faced, the pair continuously questioned why they had signed up. However, the knowledge that they had already raised over £300 for Worldwide Cancer Research before they had even set off was a motivation.

The duo described the event as a “once in lifetime opportunity”

Both stated that the experience has changed their outlook on life, noting how overwhelmed they felt when strangers donated. Although there were a lot of people unwilling to help, the few that did made a lasting impact on their adventure.

The duo described the event as a “once in lifetime opportunity” and strongly encouraged all students to participate in the future. Oliver even claimed that next time they would have visas ready for their desired destination.

Lewis, however, seemed to be a little upset with their destination as he had prematurely informed his bank that he would be travelling to Canada over the weekend.

This year’s participants also broke the World Record for the number of people to simultaneously stand up whilst holding hands. This follows last year’s world record for the most people in one pair of underpants.

Although there is no official total yet from the weekend, so far the event has raised over £10,000 for Worldwide Cancer Research. But Jailbreak President, George Dewhirst, is hoping that this year they can make the society about more than just this one event.

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