Around the world in 80 hours

Students from the University of Leicester’s Raising and Giving (RAG) society have found a novel way to raise money for Sports Relief this year; getting as far away from their campus as possible without spending a penny.

The RAG Runaway event will set off at 10am on Thursday 11 March when 19 teams of student travellers will begin their mission. The teams will spend the next 80 hours trying to get as far away from Leicester as possible, before heading back to the University campus for a 7pm finish on Sunday 14 March.

University Runaway events are taking place at campuses across the country, and Leicester is joining a now well established charity tradition. In just 80 hours, past teams have reached Europe and beyond without spending a penny on travel, accommodation or food.

The money raised in sponsorship will go to the charity Sports Relief to help benefit children from deprived backgrounds, be it here in the United Kingdom or in less economically developed nations such as Sudan and Rwanda. These children rely on charity donations to ensure a better quality of life, a better quality education and an improvement of basic facilities like clean water.

Peter Gott, a Leicester student who has helped organise the RAG Runaway, commented:

“RAG Runaway has attracted vast interest in its pilot year here at Leicester. As a student who has partaken in the event at Loughborough, I’ve seen the success that can be achieved. It’s a true test of mental ability, encouraging students to think on the spot and focus on time management. Our two key aims are to raise as much money possible for a very deserving and popular charity scheme in Sport Relief and also to establish the event for further years to come.”

To sponsor the RAG Runaway teams, please follow this link www.leicesterrunaway.com which has all the justgiving pages of all the teams participating.