Breaking out of the Bubble

The rules are simple, and most will be familiar with them whether they participated or not- get as far from Warwick campus as you can in 36 hours, with no money.

Each year over one hundred students converge at the Piazza early Saturday morning to begin their journey. Every kilometre they travel away from Warwick earns more money from sponsors.

This year 67 teams participated. Some groups got as far as Cyprus, Morocco and Hungary. The winners were the team called Prostitution is an Option who managed to reach Los Angeles, USA, a distance of 8,608 kilometres.

Jailbreak is part of BBC’s Children in Need Appeal. Children in Need is a charity which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children across the UK and last year raised over £37 million.

How students travel free of charge is left up to them, and they must also find their own way back to Warwick.

All those who participated had unique stories to tell.

One group, Lead Resonance, made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Two of the members, Joey Hall, second year Psycology, and Daniel Botcherby, third year Accounting and Finance, told their story to The Boar.

Joey and Daniel went, with two others, as a band and decided to bring along their instruments, wanting to do “something different.” They soon found that people “appreciated the music” and had little trouble in getting free lifts and tickets.

While on a train between Warwick and Paris, the train broke down. Instead of being worried about wasting the little time Jailbreakers have, they decided to go through the train carriages singing and playing. Although their original intention was just to cheer the other passengers up and pass the time, once they explained what they were doing for Children in Need, people started “pouring” in money.

One problem sometimes encountered by Jailbreakers is language barriers, especially for those reaching far flung destinations.

For Lead Resonace, though, they were lucky enough to have a French speaker with them, even if it was only A-level French.

Thirty hours after leaving the Piazza the four band members found themselves underneath the Eiffel Tower.

After playing there, a woman selling tickets offered them four VIP passes to the top. They skipped the queue and went up to the top where they played one final concert. Being “maybe the first band to play” there was a great end to their trip.

In the end they managed to raise over £500, though sponsorship money is still coming in.

Not all teams do get so far, with one only reaching Birmingham and a number of others not ever leaving campus.

Last year’s Jailbreak raised over £16,500 from about 80 different teams. First place went to a team who flew to Vancouver, Canada, with second going to the team who reached New York.

Some participants from last year felt that the winning team ‘cheated’ because they had arranged free air travel through connections. However, there are no rules as to how the teams manage to travel for free, within the law in any case.

The team that made it to Cyprus this year blagged their way to British Airways tickets.

It went “really well,” said Jailbreak President Sammy Butters, “we had a larger spread of destinations” than previous years.

This year they also had a new element to the competition, not only a prize for those who got the furthest away but also for those that got the further south and the furthest north. The team to get the latter prize made it to Aberdeen.

While money is still being collected, it seems that this year’s Jailbreak has been a success.