On Saturday, Feb. 7, I, along with several hundred of my closest friends, donning outrageous costumes, dove headlong into the freezing Lake St. Louis. No, we weren’t crazy; we were participating in the sixth annual Polar Bear Plunge fundraiser charity event for Special Olympics Missouri.

Thirteen Plunge events are taking place in lakes and reservoirs all over Missouri (and one in Mexico) over the course of February. The Plunge at Lake St. Louis was the major event for the local metro area and thus had a massive turnout.

“Our goal this year is [to raise] $140,000, and we have over 500 plungers participating—a record number,” said Jennifer Brown, associate director of Special Olympics Missouri.

Despite the warm weather of the day, the first thing to be seen was a group of ducks walking across the icy surface of the lake as if each one were a web-footed Jesus. Slightly larger ducks were also walking around in the reception area, as were pigs, bears, frogs, turkeys, chickens, giraffes, hippos, beetles, Beatles and KISS. People banded into teams to collectively raise money, and most teams came in themed costumes. Everyone jumped in full regalia.

“The craziest costume team I’ve seen is the Wicked Witch of the West and her troop of flying monkeys. That was pretty creepy,” said event security guard Steve Whiteman.

Washington University was well represented with teams from both Sigma Chi and Phi Delta Theta fraternities, and yours truly from Student Life. The Washington University Police Department (WUPD) was present for its fourth year at the Plunge, with a team of five officers and dispatchers including Chief Don Strom; they were a crowd favorite as the Blue Man Group.

“There’s a close relationship between the law enforcement profession and Special Olympics, and this is one of those events we take a lot of pride in and participate in,” Strom said. “We’re glad we got good support from our community, and we raised about $2,000.”

There were so many participants that everyone was split into “heats,” or waves of runners. The mass of freezing humanity flowing into the lake lasted for more than an hour. WUPD was one of the first, but I was the very last, Heat 28. This gave me the chance to meet some other participants, both before and after their run.

“This year, it’s like Florida outside, but there’s still ice on the water. Can’t think about that. Just gotta go, then get out. That’s all there is to it,” said Doug Post, one of 18 Chiquita bananas.

Of course, that was before he jumped. The dripping and costumeless Samantha Stevens had quite different feelings as she emerged from the lake.

“It’s really, really cold! I didn’t know what hit me when I first ran into the water; it was disorienting,” she said. “But it was awesome, and I survived. [I’m] probably doing it again next year.”

I was of the same mind-set as Post. The water was still near freezing, but at least the weather was in the mid 60s. God was smiling upon us. I know this because he was there with his robe and staff, under the assumed name of Plunge participant and Special Olympics athlete Ron Petreaup.

“It’s very fun and very exciting—gets the adrenaline flowing,” Petreaup said. “Seeing people donating money and getting involved is great. [I] can’t wait to do it next year.”

A large number of Special Olympics athletes were jumping themselves. There was also a huge age range, from old men to teams of high school students, including a large group in old-fashioned bath wear. One heat alone included a geriatric, a marine, two attractive young ladies and three young princesses.

Before my turn to take the plunge, I watched as participants came out of the water a lot worse for the wear. The Guantanamo prisoners were waterboarded, the formerly green Hulk was Bruce Banner again and the high school kids were all washed up. Scary, sure, but it was too late to back out now.

The nine of us lined up and ran hard toward the water. As we hit it, the water immediately began to slosh up past our knees too fast to feel it. A moment later, we dove headfirst into the surf. The chill hit to the bone, but like Stevens, I couldn’t even tell where I was. But my feet found the bottom, and triumphantly I stood up and spread my arms wide. Success! I had gone where only a few thousand had gone before me and raised money for a good cause in the process.

Visit studlife.com for more photos of the event and the backstory with reporter Scott Fabricant.

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