Oswego resident Mandi Parisi has made a habit of going swimming outdoors every year about this time including this past Sunday at Silver Springs State Park in Yorkville.
“I’ve been doing a plunge every year for 10 years now,” Parisi said. “After a decade of experience, one of the things I’ve learned is to get cold before going in the water.”
The weekend’s relatively balmy weather did little to lessen the sting of plunging into ice cold water as the annual Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge took place Sunday afternoon, beginning at 1 p.m.
Hundreds of participants took up the challenge to “Be Bold-Get Cold” and help support the Illinois Special Olympics in the late winter fundraising event in Yorkville.
“This is an event that many states across the country plan,” said plunge director Amanda Nelson. “We’ve had the plunge here in Yorkville nearly 25 years, and we’re happy to have this back after it was canceled for a year.”
During the cancellation, Nelson said an “at home” plunge was held which included everything from people easing into bathtubs to plunging into mounds of snow.
“We asked people to raise funds and the main message wasn’t about where you plunged but that you plunged,” she said. “We had people across the state plunging into snow banks, did snow angels, took snow baths, just things at home while still continuing to raise funds.”
Nelson said the number of participants this year “was on the high end” in terms of the history of the polar plunge in Yorkville and that heading into last weekend, the group had “already raised over $113,000.”
“The numbers are great,” she said.
Nelson said the mindset of participants is driven “by the cause” of supporting Illinois Special Olympics.
“Our athletes are magnetic people and they tend to win the hearts over of people who are supporting them,” Nelson said.
“People with intellectual disabilities have a way with words and a way of telling their stories and I think that it just draws people in who want to support and be a part of that mission,” Nelson said. “It gives me goosebumps to think about it. You meet our athletes one time and you are hooked and you want to do more.”
She said the plunge is truly a special activity.
“It’s a really cool signature event that happens here in the Midwest and is a bucket list item,” she said. “You can really get behind what you’re raising money for.”
Nelson admitted that the weekend weather which was in the high 60s Saturday and nearly 45 Sunday wasn’t really a blessing for plungers.
“We know that the air temperature will be warm but the lake certainly will not,” she said. “There is still quite a bit of ice and my team was working right up to the end cutting into it to create a plunging hole. Sometimes when the air temperature is warm, it makes the lake that much colder and makes it more of a shock.”
Kristi Wille of Oswego, who was representing the Yorkville Middle School team known as the Frozen Foxes, took her first-ever plunge despite “volunteering for this event ever since college.”
“We had a team of 21 this year and we had faculty as well as students who did the plunge,” she said. “It wasn’t as cold outside but the water was a shock to the system. There are warming tents after you’re done but getting the full feeling back to all your extremities takes at least half an hour.”
Parisi’s passion is driven by the fact she is a veteran Special Olympics coach, who coaches her own sister and other athletes who are part of the Kendall County Special Olympics team.
“I have coached and volunteered around the state and also worked with Special Olympics,” she said. “My sister competes in swimming, track and field and bowling.”
Parisi said a decade of plunging still produces some butterflies and that her sister says her plunging shouldn’t be looked at as a sacrifice.
“As far as this year’s plunge goes it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “This year was actually pretty nice compared to some other years we’ve had. Every year I get nervous but then I’m also excited – it’s very thrilling. It’s one of those experiences that never changes with time. And my sister says she puts in the work all year-round and I’ve only got one day where I have do something.”
Final totals included 320 who plunged, with Nelson noting that “what was important was not how you plunged, but that you plunged.”
A total of $143,759 was raised, one of the highest amounts ever from the Yorkville event, organizers said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
