Jailbreak winners reach Israel

On the year of Warwick Jailbreak’s 10th anniversary, more than 300 students took part in the 36-hour, no money, hitchhike challenge over the weekend of November 1-2.

The participants managed to raise an overall of £30,000 for the international charity, Worldwide Cancer Research (WCR). They also fit a world record-breaking 314 people into a single pair of pants.

Winners Leon Izbicki and Niklas Wagemann of team ‘SmashBros’ reached Tel Aviv, Israel, travelling a total distance of 2,500 miles and claiming the title of Warwick’s fifth furthest Jailbreak.

‘Smashbros’ managed this when a stranger bought them tickets from Birmingham to Istanbul, Turkey, after which they managed to get another free flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv.

Runners up for this year went as far as Malaga, Barcelona, Budapest, Antalya, Berlin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, and Dublin.

Students travelled in groups of two to four and used various methods from eye-catching onesies to singing and dancing to persuade strangers to give them a lift or buy them tickets.

Simran Thakral of team ‘Fugitives’, who travelled to Inverness, said, “In the train station we danced the Macarena and made a human pyramid. People were looking at us, it was funny.”

Planning ranged from nothing at all to months in advance. Eunice Tang stated: “We did loads of planning before the event. We emailed 30 airlines and their CEO’s, newspapers, ministers and businessmen to ask for flight sponsorship.”

On the other hand, Alina Soto of team ‘Two Broke Girls and a Bearded Guy’, who travelled to Prague and raised 1000 pounds, had a different story.

They said: “We didn’t do much planning. It was pretty much minutes before the start of the challenge. We thought it would be better not to over-think it since you never know what to expect.”

“We sent an e-mail entitled ‘Another Stupid Attempt’ to the CEO of Vueling that had helped us get to Barcelona, trying to appeal to his most charitable sense once again.

“The next morning we woke up with plane tickets and an invitation to meet the CEO in person at the Vueling headquarters on our way back to London when passing through Barcelona.”