Warwick University students going a long way to clock up free air miles

An intrepid pair got free flights from Birmingham to Istanbul in Turkey, then another flight to Tel Aviv.

Team SmashBros were among 380 who took part in the Warwick Jailbreak and had 36 hours to get from the University of Warwick as far away as possible without spending any money.

And participants have raised almost £30,000 for Worldwide Cancer Research (WCR), with money still coming in. The 2,485-mile trip to Tel Aviv on November 1-2, is the fifth furthest Jailbreak in the university’s history, coming behind Bangkok, Vancouver, Los Angeles and New York.

Runners-up this year include Malaga, Barcelona, Budapest, Antalya, Berlin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Dublin.

Students were travelling in groups of between two and four and were offered free lifts in a variety of methods of transport, including cars, ferries, lorries, aeroplanes and even in police cars.

The teams also broke “a world record” on the morning of November 1, by getting 314 people into a single pair of underpants, beating the record of 304 set by the University of Birmingham in 2013.

Warwick Jailbreak was still waiting on confirmation as to whether it is an official Guinness World Record.

Sian Elvin, media officer for Warwick Jailbreak, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with how successful the event has been this year and the huge amount we have raised for charity. We’ve broken world records; run the biggest Jailbreak the UK, and possibly the world, has ever seen; and seen three teams enter the top ten of Warwick’s furthest Jailbreaks.”

Anna Howarth, WCR student fundraising co-ordinator, said: “Money raised will fund another year of one of the very best cancer research projects in the world.”