Jailbreak 2018 – the famed student fundraising initiative – launched this morning from Dublin Castle, with 90 teams given just 36 hours to race across Europe to the unknown “Location X” somewhere in the world.
As clues are released from the Jailbreak HQ and students must blag and fundraise money in order to reach “Location X” without using any of their own funds, while also completing the different set challenges and trying to solve the clues.
In its seventh year, Jailbreak is Ireland’s largest student fundraiser. All money raised during this weekend goes towards St Vincent de Paul and Amnesty International. This year, the organisers are aiming to raise €50,000 over the next 36 hours.
Since 2014, students from third-level institutions across Ireland have been competing in this pre-eminent event. As the weekend progresses, each of the teams will need to complete different sets of challenges, each of which showcase the work the Amnesty International, St Vincent de Paul and An Cumann Gaelach. An Cumann Gaelach has been a co-organiser since last year. Participants also have a chance to show off their Irish language and culture skills.
Over the last six years, Jailbreak has raised a total of €225,000 and teams this year have already raised just over €44,0000. This year, the headquarters are based in the Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) on the Trinity campus and from here, participants must check in regularly with volunteers all weekend.
With most teams still in Dublin airport trying to get flights out, four teams have made it to Eindhoven, two to Zurich, one to Berlin, Hamburg and Geneva. Francesca Shaw and Clíona McCabe on team 56 have currently raised the most money, with €2061, and Shane Murphy and Jack Fielding are the furthest away at a distance of 1300.71km in Berlin.
