A polar bear plunge is an event held during winter in which participants enter the water body despite low temperatures. In the United States, polar bears are usually held to raise money for charitable organizations. In Canada, polar bears are usually held on New Year's Day to celebrate the new year.
Video Polar bear plunge
Kanada
In Canada, "Polar Bear Swims", "plunges" or "dips" are New Year's Day traditions in many communities across the country. Vancouver, BC's annual Polar Bear Swim Club has been active since 1920 and typically has 1,000 to 2,000 registered participants, with a record of 2,128 plunging into English Bay in 2000. Registration is not enforced and the actual number of swimmers may be much higher. The approximate number of observers typically reaches 10,000. Suburban White Rock, BC's was founded in 1958, and other suburbs including North Vancouver, Surrey, Delta, and Langley also have swimming spots.
Other locations include Bowen Island, BC, Edmonton, AB, Calgary, AB, Ottawa, ON, Oakville, ON, Toronto, ON, Perth, ON, Clarington, ON, Sarnia, ON, Montreal, QC, North Hatley, QC, Halifax , NS, Prince Edward Island, Ness Lake in the north of Prince George, BC and St. John's, NL. In Yellowknife, NWT, the "Freezin for a reason" plunge was held in March after spring melting.
Maps Polar bear plunge
Netherlands
Every New Year's Day about 10,000 people dived together into the cold sea water at Scheveningen, a coastal resort town of the Netherlands, since 1960. At 89 locations on the coast and in lakes across the country, every year about 30,000 people participate in "Nieuwjaarsduik" (English: New Year Diving), with a record of 36,000 attendees on January 1, 2012. Since 1998, Unox, Unilever's food brand is often associated with winter, adopted Nieuwjaarsduik and since then it is a tradition to wear Unox-branded winter hats and gloves.
New Zealand
Polar plunges (local names) are held at various beaches in New Zealand, usually on weekends closest to the shortest day at the end of June. Among other places, the polar poles are led at Papamoa Beach (Tauranga), Saint Clair Beach (Dunedin), and Castlecliff (Wanganui).
United Kingdom
The annual "Loony Dook" is held in South Queensferry, Scotland, on New Year's Day. Several thousand attended the event with over a thousand people jumping. Participants regularly dress up for the occasion and will usually parade through local towns that act like "loonies" continuing "dook". Aside from the regular fans, most are still drunk from New Year's Eve celebrations and have more than the possibility of losing bets.
Another, smaller plunge occurred on Christmas Day at the Blackroot Pool in Sutton Park, Birmingham, England. Often, participants aim to raise money for charity.
In the British Foreign Territory of Gibraltar, an annual swim was held at Boxing Day.
United States
Plunges are now held throughout the United States. Annual events are held in Seattle (since 1993), Evergreen, Colorado, New York Coney Island Polar Bear Club, Lake George, NY, Boston (since 1904), Bradford Beach in Milwaukee (since 1916), New Hampshire and New Jersey. Some, like Minnesota, are held to gather results for the Special Olympics. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College also organizes the annual "Polar Plunge for Health Equity" to Occom Pond.
The Polar Bear Plunge event in Maryland, the largest polar bear plunging in the United States, is held annually at Sandy Point State Park, raising funds for the Special Olympics. Sponsored by the Maryland State Police, in 2007, Plungapalooza collected $ 2.2 million and had 7,400 participants. In 2008, about 12,000 people participated.
Every Sunday Super Bowl, Long Beach, New York hosts one of the largest in the US. Since 1998 thousands of people flocked to Long Beach Beach to jump into the ocean at Super Bowl Sunday. All proceeds are donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Midsummer polar plunge (Antarctic)
A polar plunge is also held every mid-summer in Antarctica - a rite of passage for scientists and visitors to New Zealand's Scott Base. It was held in late December.
See also
- Ice swimming
- Ice Bath
- Challenge of ice bucket
References
Further reading
- Waldman, Jon (January 29, 2009). "A big jump: Nora to jump." SLAMMING! Wrestling . Retrieved January 30, 2009 .
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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