Chippawa charges on with polar bear dip
While polar bear swims across Niagara region have been postponed or cancelled due to frigid temperatures, organizers of the seventh annual Chippawa Polar Dip have no plans to cancel.
The Grimsby Polar Bear Dip was cancelled because of the freezing temperatures and the Crystal Beach Polar Bear Dip, which was scheduled to run this Saturday, has been postponed with a new date yet to be determined.
Troy Roberts, chairman of Chippawa’s dip, says the Chippawa Public Docks Committee is still planning to host the event this Saturday.
“We’re not cancelling unless there’s an insane blizzard,” Roberts says. “We’ve held it in this cold before.”
The forecast for Saturday is sunny with a high of -13 C (Environment Canada), while average high’s for Niagara Falls usually fall at 0 C. (Weather Network).
Brock University kinesiologist and Canada Research Chair Stephen Cheung says the abnormally cold temperatures won’t be dangerous to participants as long as the swims are well organized. He says there’s no longterm risks for a healthy individual participating in the dip for two to three minutes.
“I don’t think the extra cold by itself is necessarily a reason to cancel it,” he says. “The main thing is that it is an organized event, that there are safety protocols in place, and that people aren’t standing around exposed for too long.”
Upon entering the water, he says participants can expect a “cold-shock response” resulting from dropping skin temperatures and a highly activated sympathetic nervous system.
“You can think of it as an extreme fight or flight response,” he says.
At this point, he says participants will have trouble controlling their breathing, as well as a heart rate rising from an average rate of 50 to 70 beats per minute to 140 to 150 beats per minute in a very short amount of time.
“Those are caused by your sympathetic nervous system being really activated because of your skin temperature dropping.”
Cheung says participants should not consume alcohol before a polar bear swim.
“It may make you feel warmer, but the reason it’s making you feel warmer is your skin’s blood vessels are opening up, but that also means you are losing heat more rapidly to the environment,” he says.
He also warns that serious problems can arise when participants stand around in their bathing suits before or after the event. He suggests that participants dry off and change immediately after the swim.
“Then you can really be losing a lot of heat from your body. Combined with the swim itself, then you may actually see a drop in your core temperature,” he says. “(The) wet clothing will really suck away the heat very rapidly.”
Roberts says Niagara Trailers and a local resident have donated heated trailers for the event, so onlookers have a place to warm up. He also says there’s an after party in a heated hall following the event.
“We’re expecting a lot of people coming out,” he says. “People in Chippawa are pretty excited for this event.”
Cheung says organizers can postpone their polar bear dips if they feel concerned.
“It’s always better to be safe than have any incidents occur ... you can always wait until later when it warms up a little bit more to do your polar bear swims if you really want to.”
He also says individuals with heart conditions should reconsider participating because of how quickly the heart-rate will rise.
“That can be a huge stress on their system, so that’s the people I would recommend against taking part in it,” he says.
But, he says he’s most concerned for people who try the polar dip swim themselves, such as at their cottage, without any backup.
”Those would be people I would definitely advise against doing a polar bear swim because it’s very difficult actually to climb out of a hole in the ice from the water,” he says. “Well organized events I have no problem with at all, but it’s kind of these ‘do-it-yourself ’ ones that I’d be really worried about.”