Cambridge RAG’s annual Jailbreak is set to smash all fundraising records, as they envisage raising over £50,000 for their chosen charities.

The event is RAG’s biggest single-event fundraiser, which last year contributed £40,000 to the annual Cambridge RAG total of approximately £150,000.

This year, however, the Jailbreak Committee is confident that the total sponsorship amount, when confirmed in March, will exceed this by more than £10,000, considering the unprecedented scale of the event.

“Delighted” at its success, Treasurer Owen Jones feels “the target is very achievable given the number of participants and the distances they managed to travel.”

Already the committee is hearing of individual teams raising over £500 and several individual donations of £67 for the winning team, who were sponsored on a penny-per-mile basis…and then travelled more than 6,000 miles.

More teams took part in Jailbreak 2012 than ever before and with 300 participants, this makes the event the largest student-run Jailbreak the UK has ever seen.

Not only has it surpassed previous years in sponsorship and participant figures but the mileage the escapee prisoners amassed is the most impressive to date.

The teams overall travelled to over 28 countries in just 36 hours, accumulating 100,000 miles – the  equivalent of travelling the earth’s circumference over four times.

Students reached as far as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Hong Kong and Dubai – all without spending a penny of their own money.

The winning Team 111 remarkably fled 6,705 miles from Cambridge to Singapore, trumping last year’s winners, who reached Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The triumphant first years Matilda Carr, from St. John’s College and Matthew Walton, from Trinity Hall succeeded in having their entire journey and accommodation funded by an American businessman who they met en route.

They excitedly posted to the RAG website’s live feed: ‘probably gonna struggle to make Monday lectures…’

As if a free trip to Singapore wasn’t enough, the victorious pair receives tickets to the Robinson May Ball

Coming 782 miles behind Matilda and Matthew was second-place Team 110, who reached Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong.

Laurence Gribble and Johann Kamper travelled 5,933 miles to finally recuperate with free entry and drinks in Likuid club.

The land race saw more intense rivalry, as Team 150 narrowly beat Team 33 by just 35 miles, reaching Marcia in Spain ahead of their opponents, who made it to Suwalki, Poland without taking any planes.

Team 150’s Daisy and Husein both receive a BigFish Ents Life Pass.

With students dressed as anything from fruit and vegetables to Mr Men, convicts and Mario brothers, teams sought to make the travelling and fundraising as entertaining as possible.

For example, Poppy and Clare from Homerton, respectively an asparagus and carrot for the weekend, busked for money and ended up in Amsterdam.

Equally extraordinary were Team 159’s efforts. Aaron and Yichaun ran to central London, dodging traffic on dual carriageways and skipping along the M25, before performing fundraising challenges set by their sponsors.

Those who spent last weekend in the library struggled to contain their jealousy as updates fed in from the likes of Team 23, who borrowed skiwear from friends in London before heading off to Canada and Team 104, who checked in to The Ritz, Dubai.

Whilst participants are now trapped once more in the Cambubble, it is not too late to show your appreciation for their feats and sponsor a deserving team. The money goes to RAG’s selected ten local, national and international charities, as listed on their website, www.cambridgerag.org.uk.