POLAR DIP
Mother Nature offers a break as Calgarians take the plunge
Environment Canada lifted the city’s extreme cold warning just in time for Calgarians to take part in the ninth-annual Calgary Icebreaker Polar Dip on Monday afternoon.
This year, the event at the Elbow Valley Residents Club, just beyond Calgary’s southwest city limits, raised more than $90,000 for the Servants Anonymous foundation. The 30-year-old foundation helps teen girls and young women involved with sex trafficking and exploitation.
“They’re providing recovery programs and houses for girls and women taken out of sexual slavery. It is worth every ounce of pain we experience,” said Bernie Potvin, co-founder of Old Guys in Action, the group that organizes the polar dip.
Sheldon Kennedy, the head of the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, was one of the higher-profile locals taking a dip on Monday and said the work at the centre is closely linked with human trafficking.
“We know probably 100 per cent of the women and girls that are being trafficked (have) been sexually abused,” said Kennedy.
“The charities are closely knit, and I think being able to come and support and show unity around an issue that goes beyond one’s own silo, that’s basically what we did here today.”
Despite waking up to frigid temperatures, all 100 expected socalled dipsters attended the event.
Ross Weaver, Potvin’s fellow cofounder of Old Guys in Action, said this is the only event that people don’t have to train for.
“You just stand by the edge of the lake, you don’t think about it — the least amount of thinking the better. You jump into the water and instinct takes over from there and you get out as fast as you can,” Weaver said.
“Scandinavian countries do this every year and they say it’s good for you, so that’s what we tell people,” added Potvin.
Yet, before taking the dip, Kennedy said he wondered just how bad it was actually going to be.
“We sit in cold tubs after hockey and stuff like that but, I mean, it was cold. I’ll tell you what, that was a shock, it takes your breath away and I was surprised, but it goes away quick. It was worth it.”