Biggest Jailbreak ever raises thousands for charity

One hundred and six teams of Warwick students took part in the annual charity hitchhike “Jailbreak” this year – a record number, which suggests the growing popularity of the event on campus.

Every year, willing Warwick students prepare to beat the clock as they race to get the furthest from campus in just 36 hours, using only their skills of persuasion to fund such exploits . The only costs incurred are those needed for the return trip to campus, as well as the funds raised by each team for the beneficiary charity, which this year was Amnesty International UK.

Students began their journey at 9am on Saturday 7th November but standards were set high by last year’s winners, “Prostitution Is An Option,” who managed to hitch 5,349 miles to Los Angeles, USA. The winners of Warwick Jailbreak 2009, “S.T.Delightful”, managed to travel 1,836 miles to Tenerife. This was a considerable feat given that they had not even secured their flight until Sunday afternoon.

Second place went to “On the Road”, who were the only other team to secure air transport. They travelled 1,141 miles from campus, arriving in Morocco following a flight to Malaga from England.

The race for first place saw a “tense finish”, according to the secretary of Jailbreak, Graham Milsom. Whilst the executive body did have a participating team, the rest were camped out in the Learning Grid for forty hours monitoring the event as it happened.

Two second year history and politics students, Jon Shephard and Harriet Wortley comprised team “The Mile High Club”. They achieved 15th place, having travelled a total of 719 miles to Salzburg, Austria. They were “delighted” with this result, especially as it beat their 707 miles to Prague last year. When questioned before the event, Shepard told the Boar, “it is best not to have a target as the spontaneity is more fun.” The pair are hoping to win the prize for “Best Blag” after managing to secure eleven free main course meals in the Trucker’s Lounge; one for each Warwick Jailbreak participant travelling via Ferry to Dunkirk.

Other prizes go to the team who travelled furthest north, which was awarded to “Hoy Ahoy!” for reaching Thurso, Scotland. Novelty prizes such as best costume award and best picture award were also distributed. The exec set the teams numerous challenges along the way to keep morale high, such as obtaining a photo of the fattest man, and photo of the biggest nose.

When asked whether they felt nervous, Jon replied, “only when we thought we would never get out of Belgium. Other than that we felt perfectly safe because as long as you are sensible there is nothing to worry about”. They were eventually able to get to Austria following an entertaining hitch with a Polish born German who was a fan of Polish Reggae music. This was followed by a lift across the German border with a man who had just been expelled from his house after being caught cheating on his wife. “Half the fun of jailbreak is the weird experiences you encounter and the fantastic people you meet”, said Harriet.

So far Warwick Jailbreak has raised £11,000 for Amnesty International, with an overall target of £15,000 after all the sponsorship money is collected. Warwick Jailbreak exec are “delighted” with this result.

The event usually raises money for Children in Need but due to complications this year Amnesty International was chosen to fill the void. Participants of Jailbreak complimented this choice because “it is a fantastic charity and is recognised worldwide, so is beneficial for explaining what Jailbreak is when hitching lifts”.

The exec from Amnesty International Society came 32nd after travelling 585 miles to Nuremberg, Germany. The two members representing the Jailbreak exec team travelled 476 miles to Hannover, Germany. Warwick Jailbreak Secretary added; “We were confident that this year had the potential to be the best Jailbreak there’s ever been, especially with our brand new website and tracker system. Every team I’ve spoken to so far said they had an amazing weekend.”

Sarah Green, publicity spokesperson from Amnesty International’s headquarters, commented: “We wish all Warwick students the best of luck and all funds raised will be a great help towards working to stop human rights abuses.”