This weekend students and residents from Madison plan to brave the cold and take an icy splash into the waters of Lake Monona in Madison's eighth annual Polar Plunge at Olin Turville Park.
""We [say] it's just like a bull ride,"" said Kelly Kloepping, vice president of communications of Special Olympics-Wisconsin. ""The eight seconds of astonishment and then you're in that hot tub.""
Last year, the Special Olympics-sponsored event was cancelled due to a cold weather spell, much like the one Madison saw this year. The high for Saturday is forecasted in the mid-20s.
""I don't think we're really going to cancel plunges anymore,"" Kloepping said.
Of the many people to ‘take the plunge,' Kloepping said UW-Madison students have a huge impact on the money raised and that the event could not happen without such loyalty.
She noted that since 1999—the first year of the plunge in Madison—student turnout has been key.
""We have a great student sector here,"" Kloepping said. ""We can safely say that well over a thousand students have taken place in the event.""
Kloepping said the Polar Plunge in Madison has raised an enormous amount of money. She said that this year alone Special Olympics plans to raise about $1 million—a record for the charity.
Gary Gonczy, director of advertising at Kwik Trip in LaCrosse, said his business has been involved with the plunge since it started in LaCrosse in 1997.
""Last year we had 330 co-workers in the whole state do it,"" he said. ""Our commitment to Special Olympics Wisconsin is to raise at least $150,000 for them a year. The plunge is just one way we do it.""
Kloepping said, ""Special Olympics takes our hats off to Madison and the surrounding areas. Thanks to all the participants ... we will have raised almost $5 million since the Plunge's inception [in Madison] in 1999.""
