Polar plungers pay the price

By Angel Larsen

January 25, 2006 | A flock of geese glide across the snow packed lake. Excited onlookers watch as the two tuxedo dressed young men strut across the ice. Following quickly behind are two young women hopping across the frozen ice to stand at the edge of a water hole with their dates.

A lone fisherman slightly raises his head as the sequined dresses and tuxedos cannonball into the water. Onlookers cheer and laugh as the now soaked prom group runs out of the water and up a hill to the warm tents.

About 70 participants plunged or walked into Hyrum Lake during Utah Special Olympics first Polar Plunge donation event on Saturday, January 21.

Standing in water-logged shoes, Alex Scott stated, "[My] feet were the coldest [part of my body]," Scott, one of the tuxedo men, is a Utah State University freshman from North Logan.

Not all plungers entered the water in swimsuits. Along with the prom date group were costumes like a clown adorned eight year old, the black caped Toilet Plunger Ninja, and a loin-cloth covered Hackin' Jack.

All costumed plungers competed in a contest before braving the lake. The best costume awar went to a woman wearing orange shorts over forest green stretch pants, a multi-color tie-dyed t-shirt, enlarged clown glasses, a straw hat and crooked, under-brushed teeth. She won three months of free ice cream.

Cache County Sheriff Deputy Dustin Hunter announced each plunger's name as they
made their way to the hole cut in the ice. Plungers could choose to enter the water two ways: a gradual entrance from shore or a leap from the ice edge. After the plunge, participants had to walk or, more appropriately, run about 30 feet to green, gender-separated tents to change clothes.

Plungers focused not only on surviving the cold water but the technique involved with their entrance. Awards were given for the most graceful plunge, best plunge couple, the biggest splash, best plunge group of three or more, and the palest plunger after jumping. Hunter, the plunger announcer, finished the jumpers by chasing Louise Hunter, who was dressed as an escaped criminal, around the hole before he finally fell in. Once in the water, he swam around for 47 seconds because he promised to be in the water one second for every $10 South Cache High School students collected. The students raised $472.

For their performance, Dustin and Louise Hunter received the Academy Award from the plunge judges.

Other awards were presented to an eight-year-old for being the youngest plunger while Hackin' Jack, in his late fifties, was the oldest. He, however, was not given the oldest plunger award because he had already been deemed most scantily clad for his loincloth outfit and could not win two awards.

Alex Scott and Larry Merket received the best USU student award along with their "unknown" dates. All Merket and Scott know is that their names are Megan and Candice. They met when they arrived. Scott said the girls asked if they were jumping in their tuxedos and the boys said yes. The girls asked if they could jump as a group. The prom daters were four of about a dozen USU students who plunged for a cause.

"This bull knows how to deal with the snow," David Fredrickson, a USU student, said before plunging. "Go, Aggies, Go!"

Some participants included parents of Special Olympic athletes like Sarah Wyatt's father and one athlete even jumped with their coach. Gary Saxton, event organizer and North Area Development Co-coordinator, plunged along with his son and daughter.

After presenting the awards, Saxton thanked law enforcement officers for helping, the army for the warmth tents and "Hyrum State Park for cutting a great hole in the ice." He said the event was promoted by law enforcement and had been planned since December. The event was modeled after Wisconsin's Special Olympics Polar Plunge. Events like these help Special Olympic athletes subsidize travel and training costs. Saxton said between $3000 and $4000 was raised to help nearly 80 local athletes.

Hyrum Lake was one of four locations in Northern Utah for the Polar Plunge. Other locations included Utah County's Pleasant Grove Recreation Swimming Pool, the Great Salt Lake Marina for Salt Lake County and the Homestead Resort for Wasatch and Summit Counties. Plungers donated a minimum $20 or found sponsors to pledge money before making the jump.

DJH
DJH