Jailbreakers reach Johannesburg, 60 miles shy of Oxford record

Three Oxford students are 60 miles away from beating the university’s Jailbreak record.

Christopher Burningham, Helen Gao and Antonio Ji from Green Templeton have reached Johannesburg in their plight to raise money for the charity event Jailbreak.

The OUSU initiative has raised up to £30,000 in previous years for charities including Jacari, Student Minds, Against Malaria Foundation and Oxford Sexual Abuse & Rape Crisis Centre.

The team, also known as Prisoner’s Dollemma, have been said to have most recently flown from Ethiopia, and are now only 60 miles shy of breaking the all-time record and winning tickets to St Hilda’s College Ball in May.

The trio have until 8pm to beat Caitlin Place, Charles Parkes and Rob Harris from New College two years ago, who made it to Tokyo.

The team’s Twitter page

Joe Hill, event leader of Jailbreak, said: “As far as I know, the team contacted Green Templeton College Alumni who gave them donations to get a flight, but that’s not fully confirmed.

“I think they’ll be able to break the record. They landed at 11am our time, and have until 8pm. 60 miles is very doable in that amount of time.”

Annabel Lawrence, James Rhodes and Miranda Collins from New College have also escaped Europe, landing in Istanbul this morning.

Their travels have also included meeting comedian and actor Stephen Fry in London.

Other current destinations of Oxford Jailbreakers include Berlin, Paris, Prague, Verona and Milan.

The 2016 initiative has raised £21,000 so far, and donations are open until the 20th February. The organisers hope to raise £35,000 in total this year.

Joe Hill continued: “We are really proud of the amount so far. Lots of people in the university know about Jailbreak and it’s such an exciting event.

“It’s great to see how far people manage to get raising thousands of pounds for charity along the way.

“From our end too, it’s an exciting event to organise because people get so enthusiastic and engaged with it.”

You can donate to the Oxford Jailbreak and its four charities here.