LEGGIT raises thousands as students hitchhike through Europe

Students' Union charity hitchhike raises around £10,000, with the winners making it all the way to Prague.

Over a period of 36 hours, 94 Bournemouth University students in teams of 2 or 3, had to make it as far away from Bournemouth as possible without spending any money, all in the name of raising money for Diverse Abilities Plus.

As teams found their way to places like France, Germany and Amsterdam the winners, No Fears for Beers, travelled 1154 kilometres in total, travelling through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany before reaching the Czech Republic, getting in to Prague on a train just as the 10:00pm deadline passed.

The team was made up BU students Alex Sisan, Jess Saunders and Emily Hogg, who encountered Romanian Truckers, an American couple and a South African family who helped them along their journey as they overcame the cold and rain, plus train strikes in Germany that almost brought their hitchhike to an end.

Emily said; “We got stuck in Cologne for 8 hours and it almost broke us, but we decided to give it one more hour and in that time got picked up by a lovely Dutch couple who took us all the way to Frankfurt.”

Alex added; “We didn’t enter to win, just to have some fun and do something for charity, but when I found out we had won I was running around Prague Airport, shouting that we’d done it”

Leggit is just one of many events and trips put on by Students' Union at Bournemouth University (SUBU)’s Raising and Giving (RAG) department throughout the year and Students’ Union President Chloe Schendel-Wilson had this to say about the success of this year’s hitchhike; “RAG do amazing work all year round, but Leggit is always one of the most popular events. All the teams did so well and it’s a great opportunity for Bournemouth University students to raise a lot of money and have a great experience too.”