Randall Johnson takes to the water with a body board, as the Chattanooga Rugby Football Club makes their way into Dallas Bay for the Polar Plunge at Chester Frost Park on Sunday. The CRFC hosted the event to benefit the Special Olympics.The warmest temperatures of the month did little to heat the water at Dallas Bay, but a bold group of swimmers got “Freezin’ for a reason” Sunday afternoon.
With the last remnants of snow disappearing from the ground at Chester Frost Park and a firm breeze blowing off the water, a crowd of close to 100 gathered for Chattanooga’s second annual Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics in Tennessee.
Participants of all ages took the plunge, others cheered safely from the shore and all smiled as the local rendition of the state’s largest Special Olympics fundraiser brought in an estimated $10,000.
Polar Plunge is a nationwide event, and that’s where plunger Danette Scudder found her inspiration to brave waters still warming from last week’s snowfall.
“I have a friend in Vermont that does it and it was 16 degrees and they had to break a whole in the ice for him to do it,” Scudder said while drying herself with a heated towel following her dip, “so I feel like this is pretty balmy.”