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Boulder's Polar Plunge offers brisk hello to 2012 |
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Monday, January 02, 2012 08:34 |
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Photo by Lewis Geyer, Longmont Times-Call
By JOHN AGUILAR, BOULDER DAILY CAMERA
The brave, the strong and the foolhardy dressed as princesses, penguins and pirates stood patiently in line Sunday, waiting to submerse themselves in 36-degree water at the annual Polar Plunge at the Boulder Reservoir.
The first to go in at high noon was Charlie Cooper, of Parker, who said he had taken the brazen New Year's Day dip once before.
Brrrrr ... watch a Polar Plunge video
"I've been in training, standing out on my deck in a pair of Crocs and a swimsuit," he said, as he disrobed a red "For Mom" sweatshirt on the shore of the reservoir. "I'm gonna cannonball in."
Cooper, 38, didn't manage a cannonball as much as sprint down the sand and into the water, where a couple of dive team rescuers waited 40 feet out in the water in case anyone was overcome by the chill.
"Brisk," he said after exiting the reservoir, which was ringed with a thin layer of ice.
Cooper got the honor of hitting the frigid waters before anyone else because he raised the most money -- $1,359 -- for the Alzheimer's Association of Colorado. This year's plunge is hosted by the Young Professionals Alzheimer's Association of Colorado.
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