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Rogers Park New Years Polar Plunge 2011

posted by Tim Nafziger on 01/02/11 at 06:20 PM

With icebergs all around them, 20-mph winds and temperatures below freezing, folks from Living Water Community Church, Chicago, Ill., and a few others from Rogers Park in Chicago, plunged into Lake Michigan yesterday at high noon for the 10th Annual Rogers Park Polar Plunge.

Rather then going in this year (once was enough), I took along my trusty camera and documented the plunge moment by moment. Here it is in all its cold, cold glory with superfluous narrative captions:

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The plungers count down to launch time with vim and vigor. Note the icebergs in the background.

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And they're off (with guy in black shorts still basking in glory of the moment).

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The first brave souls hit the water and begin diving in.

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The fastest plungers are under water (on the left), the dramatic are diving (see red swim shorts center left).

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And they're back above water, roaring in triumph and shock. Guy in black shorts heads in.

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And heading back for the the shore. Yelling really loud is an important warming strategy at this point.

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The full experience of 20-mph winds hitting wet bodies at 20 degrees begins to sink in.

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The successful participants gather to show off the towel printed in their honor. Guy in black shorts now wearing red hoodie and still very excited.

As they head off to a warming party, they exchange the traditional blessing: "May nothing worse then this happen to you in the New Year."

Nafziger_tim_2_thumbnail Tim Nafziger is a activist, writer, organizer and web developer. He lives in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago with his wife Charletta where he attends Living Water Community Church. He is the administrator for the Young Anabaptist Radicals blog and serves as Outreach Coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams. For more about his life, read his first blog post.


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