Gutsy Revelers Take Polar Plunge To Celebrate New Year

January 1, 2013 11:28 AM

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CHICAGO (CBS) – About 50 hearty souls started the first day of the New Year with a plunge into the frigid water of Lake Michigan.

WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports the air temperature was a bitter 18 degrees, and the water wasn’t much better at 37 degrees – nice day for a swim at North Avenue Beach, right? That’s what the dozens of people taking the Polar Plunge thought.

There’s a good reason for doing it, too.

“We do it for the Illinois Koala Bears,” said Brian “Big Cat” MaDougall, who started the tradition 13 years ago.

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Polar Plunge For New Year
WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser

After taking the plunge, one swimmer said, “I can’t feel anything, it’s like a thousand knives in my body.”

Another swimmer said, “It was great. A great way to start the year.”

Some swimmers lingered in the cold water, but most were in and out and back to a warm car as quickly as possible.

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[...] Polar Bear plunges are also held elsewhere around the country and the world — some of which were a little colder than Coney Island this New Year’s. At Chicago’s North Avenue Beach Tuesday, about 50 hearty souls braved 18-degree air temperatures t… [...]
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[...] http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/01/01/gutsy-revelers-take-polar-plunge-to-celebrate-new-year/ [...]