With a strong north wind buffeting their swim trunks, and the temperature near minus ten, about thirty people braved the cold to participate in Morden's 3rd annual

Polar Plunge Saturday afternoon outside the Access Event Centre. Organized by the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR), the event supports Special Olympics Manitoba and its athletes with intellectual disabilities throughout the region.

The participants braved windchill values nearing minus 25 to jump into the bitterly cold pool of water.

"I love to see the amount of people that come out and watch this event, the amount of people who come out and take part truly make it a successful event," said Morden Police Constable Scott Edwards, Chair of the local organizing committee. "The goal, obviously, with LETR is to raise funds and awareness for Special Olympics Manitoba, and I think we did that today."

Barb Edwards, mother of Constable Edwards, was the top individual fundraiser bringing in over $1,000.

"I guess the reason I thought maybe I could do this was to support Scott, and then I got some pledges and I thought I'm stuck, and I have to do this," explained Barb with a chuckle. "Then I thought I'm going to show my grandsons, even if you're a Grandma you're not old, and you're never too old to have fun, and one person can make a difference, because I'm the top fundraiser and I'm one person."

There were a number of first time plungers at Saturday's event, and Constable Edwards noted that's a very good thing.

"We love to see that, because the talk afterwards, quite often, is once they do it once, they want to come back," said Edwards. "Hopefully that will drive our numbers, as far as participants, up for next year which we're looking forward to already."

The final numbers are still being calculated, but it's estimated about $15,000 was raised at the Morden Polar Plunge. Meanwhile, the LETR is now looking ahead to the final two Polar Plunges of the season, March 3rd at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg and March 17th in Dauphin.

 

Special Olympics Manitoba Central Region Team Leader Sabrina Klassen