THUNDER BAY - Jumping into one of the coldest lakes on the planet when it’s still covered in ice isn’t so bad, just ask Special Olympic athlete, Thomas Boyse, who has done it more than eight times.
“You kind of feel the coldness once you jump in, and you think: it’s so cold, but once you get out, they have nice warm tents, so once you get out, you think: this is amazing,” he said.
Boyes and many others are getting ready to brave the cold water once again during the return of the Thunder Bay Polar Bear Plunge. After a year hiatus, the popular fundraising event is returning this April.
“We are super excited to be back again this year,” said event coordinator, Warren Giertuga. “We had one year taken off because we needed to realign things to make it a more community focused event and partner up with some charities that support us locally. All of the charities we are involved with now are all local.”
This year the plunge will support the Thunder Bay Special Olympics, the 2020 Special Olympic Winter Games that is being hosted by Thunder Bay, and Roots to Harvest.
According to Giertuga, the last time the Polar Bear Plunge was held, more than 300 people and dozens of teams from the Cool Schools program participated and it raised more than $82,000. With its return, Giertuga believes that total will grow, and he expects it to raise more than $85,000.
“We have the opportunity to spread that out between three charities and I think it is better and I think the community is going to embrace it a little more, too,” he said.
Erin Beagle, executive director of Roots to Harvest, said there was a lot of synergy between the community grassroots organization and the Polar Bear Plunge.
“Having this opportunity to partner at this level was really exciting,” she said. “They were really adamant that they wanted all the fundraising efforts to stay local and that’s a good message to bring more organizations on board to do that.”
As a non-for-profit organization, Roots to Harvest relies heavily on fundraising and grants to provide programming throughout the community. Beagle said last year, more than $160,000 was paid out in youth wages alone.
“This helps for all of our programming in schools, for all of our programming in kitchens, hiring youth throughout the summer, and all the outreach work we do in communities,” she said.
For anyone who might be a little nervous, unsure, or just down right scared of jumping into a hole in the ice on Lake Superior, just remember, you’re not doing it alone, which makes it one of the warmest events of the year.
“The people are there, hundreds of people come out to watch, and people are cheering you on,” Giertuga said. “You are not necessarily going in by yourself, you are going with everybody else. The adrenaline and the excitement takes away that cold.”
“It’s a lot of fun and you see all these people on the sidelines cheering you on,” Boyes added. “I would say whoever has never done it to give it a try and see what you think of it.”
The Polar Bear Plunge will be held on Apr. 7, 2018 at the Marina Park Boat Launch, with an after party at the Prince Arthur Hotel. For more information, visit www.thunderbaypolarbearplunge.ca.
