The Penguin Plunge, more commonly called a "Polar Bear Club" event in other locales, will take place this Saturday in Burlington, VT. The Penguin Plunge in this case is an event of Special Olympics Vermont held as a fund raiser for the Special Olympians of the state.
It's held every year about the first weekend of February at the City of Burlington boat ramp in conjunction with the city's Winter Carnival. A large contingent of cadets and students from Norwich University volunteer to help man the event in various capacities, along with folks from many other organizations. I attend with the NU student contingent. This year will be my third time volunteering, my second time plunging.
Those of us that help to run the event form the last plunge group. We form up as a contingent, march down to the boat ramp, do some pushups, and then rush the water to close out the event.
Follow the link, come on down if you're in the area. It's a festival in the cold and usually a good time.
I'll be the one in the black Army trunks and gray NU t-shirt trying hard to look like I'm not cold.
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A very worthwhile event Marcus. Hope all goes well.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap. I think I'd die... Lake Champlain in February. I hate to admit it, but I'd have to just cut a check. I MIGHT do it the first time, just for the life experience and to say, "Yeah, I did that...", but there is no way in hell I'd do that twice. Or thrice. Holy crap.
ReplyDelete@Bou - It was nowhere near as bad as I thought that it would be. No, it's not the warm, coastal waters of Florida in July or August, but it wasn't bad. I did it the first time for the "lifetime experience" reason. I'm doing it again this time because it was nowhere near as bad as I thought when I did it last year. When it stops being fun, I'll stop doing the plunge and stick to the volunteering.
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