 |
A polar bear plunge is an event held during the winter where participants enter a body of water despite the low temperature. In the United States, polar bear plunges are usually held to raise money for a charitable organization. In Canada, polar bear swims are usually held on New Year's Day to celebrate the new year.
In Canada, "Polar Bear Swims", "plunges" or "dips" are a New Year's Day tradition in numerous communities across the country. [1] [2] [3] [4] Vancouver, British Columbia's annual Polar Bear Swim Club has been active since 1920 and typically has 1,000 to 2,000 registered participants, with a record 2,128 plunging into English Bay in 2000. Registration is not enforced and the actual number of swimmers may be significantly higher. Estimates of the number of observers are typically up to 10,000. [5] [6] [7] White Rock, British Columbia's Polar Bear Swim Club was founded in 1958, and other suburbs including North Vancouver, Surrey, Delta and Langley also hold swims. [8] [9] [10]
Other locations include Bowen Island, BC, [11] Sidney, BC, [12] Edmonton, AB,[ citation needed ] Calgary, AB,[ citation needed ] Ottawa, ON,[ citation needed ] Oakville, ON, [13] Toronto, ON, [14] Perth, ON, [15] Clarington, ON, [16] Sarnia, ON, [17] Montreal, QC,[ citation needed ] North Hatley, QC,[ citation needed ] Halifax, NS,[ citation needed ] Prince Edward Island, [18] Ness Lake north of Prince George, BC and St. John's, NL.[ citation needed ] In Yellowknife, NWT, the "Freezin for a Reason" plunge is held in May after the spring thaw. [19]
Every New Year's Day around 60.000 people dive collectively into the icy cold sea water at Scheveningen, a Dutch beach resort town, since 1960. In 89 locations on beaches and in lakes all over the country, each year many people participate in this "Nieuwjaarsduik" (English: New Year's dive). Since 1998, Unox, a Unilever food brand often associated with winter, adopted the Nieuwjaarsduik and ever since it is tradition to wear Unox branded winter caps and gloves. [20] [21] After diving in the cold water you warm up with hot chocolate and traditional Dutch pea soup.
Polar plunges (the local name) are held at various beaches in New Zealand, usually on the weekend closest to the shortest day in late June. Among other places, polar plunges are led at Papamoa Beach (Tauranga), [22] Saint Clair Beach (Dunedin), [23] and Castlecliff (Wanganui). [24]
In the UK, the majority of winter swimming events take place on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, [25] with many hundreds of people swimming in the sea at the largest events in Exmouth, Lowestoft and Brighton. [26] [27]
An annual "Loony Dook" takes place in South Queensferry, Scotland, on New Year's Day. Several thousand attend the event with over one thousand taking the plunge. [28] Participants regularly dress up for the occasion and will usually parade through the local town acting like "loonies" proceeding the "dook". Aside from the regular enthusiasts, most are still inebriated from New Year's Eve celebrations and have more than likely lost a bet.
Another, smaller plunge occurs on Christmas Day at Blackroot Pool in Sutton Park, Birmingham, England. [29] Often, participants aim to raise money for charity.
There is a Christmas Day Harbour Swim in Weymouth, Dorset. [30]
In the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, an annual swim is held on Boxing Day. [31]
Since the event's inauguration in 1983, thousands of people have taken part in the annual New Year's Day Dip on the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency. Events are held in Peel, Laxey, Douglas, Port St Mary, Ramsey and Castletown for various charities. [32]
Polar plunges are held across the United States, including annual events held in Seattle (since 1993); Evergreen, Colorado; [33] New York (the Coney Island Polar Bear Club); [2] [34] Lake George, NY; [35] [36] Boston (since 1904); [37] Milwaukee's Bradford Beach (since 1916); [38] New Hampshire; [39] and New Jersey. [40] Some, such as Minnesota's, [41] are held to raise proceeds for the Special Olympics. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College also organizes an annual "Polar Plunge for Health Equity" into Occom Pond. [39]
The Polar Bear Plunge event in Maryland is the largest polar bear plunge in the United States. It is held annually at Sandy Point State Park and raises funds for the Special Olympics. [42] Sponsored by the Maryland State Police, in 2007, Plungapalooza raised $2.2 million and had 7,400 participants. [43] In 2008, an estimated 12,000 people participated. [42]
Every Super Bowl Sunday, Long Beach, New York, hosts one of the largest plunge events in the United States. Since 1998, thousands have flocked to Long Beach to jump into the ocean on Super Bowl Sunday. All proceeds are donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. [44]
From February to March each year, Polar Plunges are held in numerous locations throughout the state of Illinois. Donations and proceeds raised for the Special Olympics. [45]
An annual Polar Bear Swimming Contest takes place annually at the Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea. [46] [47]
A polar plunge is also held every midsummer in Antarctica as a rite of passage for scientists and visitors to New Zealand's Scott Base. It is held in late December. [48]
Coogee is a beachside suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, eight kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district.
Aquatics GB is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain. Aquatics GB is a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland, and Wales. These three are collectively known as the Home Country National Governing Bodies.
English Bay is an open bay northwest of the Burrard Peninsula in British Columbia, Canada, extending from the headland between Siwash Rock and Prospect Point on Vancouver's Downtown peninsula in the northeast, to the northwestern tip of Point Grey in the southwest. The bay encompasses the coasts of Stanley Park, the West End, Kitsilano, West Point Grey and the University Endowment Lands, and makes up the southeastern portion of the outer Burrard Inlet. There is a narrow inlet named False Creek at its eastern end.
The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest winter bathing organization in the United States, whose members regularly take polar bear plunges in the winters. The club was founded by famed health advocate Bernarr McFadden in 1903.
The Boxing Day Dip is a charity event where many of the swimmers are in fancy dress swim in the sea on Boxing Day. There are several such dips held around Europe, but the largest is organised by the Red sky Foundation and Lions Club of Sunderland, England. Participants are expected to wear fancy dress and jump into the North Sea..
Winter swimming is the activity of swimming during the winter season, typically in outdoor locations or in unheated pools or lidos. In colder countries, it may be synonymous with ice swimming, when the water is frozen over. This requires either breaking the ice or entering where a spring prevents the formation of ice. It may also be simulated by a pool of water at 0 °C (32 °F), the temperature at which water freezes.
Nude recreation consists of recreational activities which some people engage in while nude. Historically, the ancient Olympic Games were nude events. There remain some societies in Africa, Oceania, and South America that continue to engage in everyday public activities—including sports—without clothes, while in most of the world nude activities take place in either private spaces or separate clothing optional areas in public spaces. Occasional events, such as nude bike rides, may occur in public areas where nudity is not otherwise allowed.
Sandy Point State Park is a public recreation area on Chesapeake Bay, located at the western end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The state park is known for the popularity of its swimming beach, with annual attendance exceeding one million visitors. The park grounds include the Sandy Point Farmhouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse stands in about five feet of water some 1,000 yards (910 m) east of the park's beach.
Sarah Fredrika Sjöström is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events.
Melissa Franklin Johnson is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke from 2012 to 2019. As a member of the U.S. national swim team, she also held the world records in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
Gustave Adolph "Gus" Brickner was a famous swimmer hailing from Charleroi, Pennsylvania in the United States. Born Feb. 10, 1912 to Gustave Adolph Brickner Sr. and Philamena "Minnie" Buchrop. One of Five siblings, Gus's father died at age 29 when Gus was 6 years old. Minnie remarried Samuel French.
The plunge for distance is a diving event that enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 19th and early part of the 20th century, even being included as an official event in the 1904 Summer Olympics. By the 1920s, it began to lose its popularity and slowly disappeared from U.S. and English swim competitions.
Ryan Fitzgerald MurphyOLY is an American competitive swimmer specializing in backstroke. He is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and the former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
Matthews Beach Park is a 22-acre (0.9 km2) park in the Matthews Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is a popular swimming beach in the summer, although it is also open during winter months.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Andrew Hammond Seliskar is a retired American competitive swimmer. He won the gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Dubai, breaking the Championships record.
Markus Thormeyer is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle and backstroke. Originally from Delta, Thormeyer moved in 2015 to Vancouver, British Columbia after graduating high school to train with the High Performance Centre-Vancouver. While he swims he is also pursuing an undergraduate degree in environmental science at the University of British Columbia.
The L Street Brownies are a polar bear club based in South Boston, Massachusetts. Organized in 1902, it is one of the oldest such clubs in the United States. Although the Brownies swim year round, they are best known for their annual New Year's Day plunge in Dorchester Bay.
Human Access Project (HAP) is an organization based in Portland, Oregon, whose mission is "transforming Portland's relationship with the Willamette River". The organization's vision is a city in love with its river. HAP was founded by Willie Levenson, whose official title is the organization's Ringleader, is a tireless and effective advocate for swimming in the Willamette River he brings his love of water to his work as an activist for recreational access to the Willamette River in Portland.
Kevin Patrick Callan is a retired American competitive swimmer. In 2017, he won a silver medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2017 World Junior Championships. In 2020, he won silver medals in the 200-meter freestyle and the 400-meter freestyle at the year's U.S. Open Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Callan was part of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay that took fourth place. At the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, he won a bronze medal in the 4×200-yard freestyle relay. He has a younger brother, Christopher Jack Callan, who currently swims at the University of Michigan.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)