On the 8th November, at the crack of dawn, teams from Cambridge will enter a blacked-out bus to embark on one of the greatest adventures of Michaelmas: LOST. LOST aims to raise money for Cambridge RAG – an umbrella charity that spends each academic year raising money for ten chosen charities – five local and five global – specially selected for the positive impacts they have on society. Challengers are dropped off in a mystery location, one hundred miles from Cambridge, where they must work in pairs to find their way back. 

Participants are thrown in at the deep end, as Lizzie Tobin, a previous challenger explained to me as she recounted her experiences: “Everyone poured out of the bus looking a bit tired, but pretty excited. We only had 24 hours to get back to Cambridge, no money and even less of an idea where we were. With the briefest of briefs, and nothing but a dodgy signpost to the nearest village, we had to make some quick decisions and scatter!” 

Participants are initially dropped off in a remote location, where they must complete location-specific challenges. In Lizzie’s words: “The first challenges weren’t too intense. They were things like taking a selfie with a sheep, blagging a ride on a tractor, milking a cow – a regular day out in the countryside, right?” As well as aiming to make it back in under 24 hours, and completing as many challenges as possible, LOST is also a race against the other teams. Lizzie and her teammate remembered how they were searching for transport when they noticed a rival team whizzing past them in a flashy car, having wangled a ride to the main destination: “We realised we needed to up our game!” Although the sense of competition is strong, “the camaraderie and support between rival teams was really strong – everyone was looking out for each other.”

At the main destination, the true LOST challenges begin. Here, contestants must complete a series of tasks, ranging from the light-hearted to the utterly ridiculous. Lizzie recounts: “Some were easy like ‘play a game of pooh sticks’, while others were things like ‘get a photo with a celeb’, or ‘hitch a ride in a police car’. Apparently, last year, someone actually managed to grab a ride in a helicopter.” 

Teams inevitably face trials and tribulations along the way and in Lizzie’s case this was no exception. “We accidentally broke the law. Basically, we thought we’d gather some money from the general public to raise money for our trip, but were escorted off the premises by a rather grumpy lady due to the lack of a permit. The ‘damage’ had already been done though and luckily we had enough money to hop onto the next train to Southampton.”

The sense of achievement that challengers gain from the experience is something they don’t tend to forget. “Once you realise you can get around simply by asking, you kind of feel like the world is your oyster.” Many participants tell stories about the true acts of kindness they experienced from strangers. “We tried to hitch a ride from a cab driver, only to be told to go inside and let him sort things out. A few minutes later, he came back with all the money we needed to get a coach home, having asked every cabbie that stopped to donate to our cause. It’s amazing how prepared people are to help.” 

Not only are contestants raising money for a meaningful cause, but the experience of LOST is, in itself, liberating and one that leaves participants with great memories of their time at Cambridge.  Applications to LOST 2014 are still open at here where you can find all the information you need, as well as a sample of videos charting the hilarious exploits of former LOST participants.