File:Freezin For A Reason 2019, A Group Photo, January 1, 2019.JPG

Summary

Photo by Jerry Knight From the Frederick News Post, January 2, 2019:

About 30 people crowded on the ramp near the Potomac River at the Brunswick Family Campground. Dozens more stood nearby to cheer on the participants as they stepped into the river during the annual ‘Freezin’ for a Reason’ Polar Bear Plunge.

This was the 14th year for the plunge, according to Lee Zumbach, treasurer of the Brunswick Area Recreation Council, which puts on the event.

For a $25 donation or more, participants and sponsors generated funds for three local nonprofits: Frederick County Special Olympics, The Brunswick Food Bank and BEACON (Brunswick Ecumencial Assistance On Needs).

Donors could choose which charity they wanted to support or divide their donation among all three nonprofits.

“And most people give something to each group,” Zumbach said, adding that each year about $5,000 is given back to the charities from the polar plunge.

Even though Tuesday was mildly cold — Brunswick was 54 degrees according to the National Weather Service — Zumbach said the event was met with other challenges.

“Today the rule is they can’t go over their waist because of the current,” he said. “That’s our challenge this year. Every year there’s a challenge. This year it’s the current. This is the highest the river has ever been.”

He said because of the heavy rain on New Years Eve that caused the river to rise, the current is “very strong” so the participants were only allowed to go up to their waists for 15 seconds.

“The river is probably double [the height] of what it normally is,” he said.

The city also plowed mud away from the ramp so no one slipped and fell during the event.

“This has probably been our second or third warmest,” he said. “Last year was our coldest. The wind chill was probably near zero and we actually had the ambulance crew standing on the ice in the river. We had to break the ice to get in.”

He said he was glad the temps this year reduced the chance of anyone getting hypothermia, but rescue squads were still on scene in case of an emergency.

Responders with the Brunswick Ambulance Squad and New Market Volunteer Fire and Rescue were in the water to form a human barrier that polar plungers couldn’t pass.

Zumbach said the event was started to give back to the local charities. It started with raising a few hundred dollars and has grown ever since.

“My favorite part is seeing so many people raise so much money in such a short period of time for other people,” he said. “It’s New Years Day, they give up their time and it’s pretty neat to see that they do it to help others.”

Friends Emmett Lannon from Shepherdstown, West Virginia and Sean Engle from Hagerstown, were ready to take to the water with their silly costumes as the Polar Bear Plunge has become a tradition among friends. Lannon was dressed as a banana and Engle was dressed as a watermelon.

“It just seems to be a good way to kick off the new year,” Lannon said of the plunge. “My sister got me involved a couple years back. She used to volunteer for the Special Olympics. It’s for a good cause, so it makes it all the more worth it.”

He said he was a little nervous ahead of the plunge, but he remembered last year first responders broke the ice in the river so participants could go in, so he wasn’t as anxious as last year.

“It’s still pretty chilly once you get out though,” he said. “Afterwards it’s going to be a little frigid.”

Engle said Lannon started the costume trend and he decided to join in on the fun this year.

“We kind of made it an event between two good friends, so that always makes it fun,” Engle said. “It’s just a neat idea to get everybody out and bring them together.”

Both Lannon and Engle said their mothers taught special education which made them very passionate about the special olympics.

As they were the last group to go in the river, they dunked their whole bodies in to “finish it the right way,” Engle said.

As for the water, Lannon said it was “a little brisk, but not bad this year.”

He said jumping into the Potomac River is somewhat of a metaphor of how he wanted to start his 2019.

“It’s kind of like getting that fresh start,” he said. “Getting all of the muck of 2018 off of you and welcoming in the new year. I can’t imagine starting in any other way.”

Engle said he hopes to bring more friends along to the plunge in the coming years.

“Maybe we’ll have a couple more fruits next year,” he said.

“We’re trying to build up a salad,” Lannon added.