ROAMING SHORES — Women in bikinis and men without shirts didn’t seem deterred by a driving rain Saturday afternoon as more than 50 people stripped down and ran into a chilly Lake Roaming Rock Saturday afternoon.
As participants, including a large group of students from Pymatuning Valley High School, huddled together trying to stay warm, family and friends gathered to take group pictures.
When the fire engine siren went off plungers sprinted down the wet beach into the lake where rubber suited emergency workers stood waiting to insure their safety and slap high fives.
Some dove into the water face first and others ran in and ran out as quick as possible.
Fire departments and rescue crews from all over the county attended to make sure everyone made it safely from the water. It took them about an hour to cut a large hole in the ice with a chain saw.
Christine Griffin came all the way from Pittsburgh to participate in the Fifth Annual Roaming Shores Polar Bear Plunge. The event raised more than $3,700 for a variety of charities that include special needs competitors of Ashtabula County, the Jeffrey B. Meddock Memorial Scholarship, the Jason Scribben Memorial Volleyball Tournament and the children of Roaming Shores, said organizers Shawn Morris and Chris Plickert.
Meddock, the former principal of Pymatuning Valley High School, was instrumental in getting Plickert to take the plunge years ago during a polar bear event in Ashtabula Township. When Meddock tragically died in 2008 Plickert decided to donate some of the plunge funds to Meddock’s scholarship fund.
Griffin said friends from Roaming Shores took the plunge last year and it “looked like fun.” “It was cold but it was a nice sense of community,” she said.
Griffin’s friend Pam Hoover of Roaming Shores was even more fired up. “I can’t wait for next year,” she said.
“This is our biggest year yet,” Plickert said.
Morrison said there was one plunger in abstentia. “They (a family) donated money and they jumped in their pool in Florida,” he said with a laugh.
Morris and Plickert said they raised about $1,200 more than last year.
With growth comes challenges, Morris said. “Every year there is a different dynamic as it gets bigger,” he said.
Different weather issues also add to the challenge, Morris said. He said the rain provided a unique challenge.
Both organizers credited their wives, Torrie Morris and Maureen Plickert, for helping them make the event a reality. “We need to send a special call out for our wives,” Morris said.
“I love it (the plunge). This is my fourth year. It’s a ton of fun and it is for a great cause,” said Debi Rollman of Jefferson.
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ROAMING SHORES POLAR BEAR PLUNGE
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