The Toronto 2018 Polar Bear Dip is cancelled

Friday, December 29, 2017

The Toronto 2018 Polar Bear Dip is cancelled

UPDATE: The 2018 dip is cancelled due to extreme temperatures and ice thickness at Sunnyside Beach: "Unfortunately due to ice conditions at Sunnyside Beach and in consideration of participant safety we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Toronto Polar Bear Dip for the first time in 13 years. This event for us has always been about starting the year off in a fun refreshing way and to raise money for Toronto charities. Today we have to consider the safety of everyone first and foremost. We will be exploring the possibility of running the event on a later date.

"We'd love to see the spirit of the event continue tomorrow! We'd encourage everyone to post a video of you doing your own "mini Polar Bear Dip" tomorrow to this page or to twitter with the hashtag #daretodip . If you can't "dip" then maybe jump in a snowbank or make snow angels in your bathing suit. If we can't be together tomorrow, let's be together in spirit! And let's keep the pledges for Boost coming in."

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Get ready to drop your clothes, show off your non-existent tan lines and run screaming into a frigid waters of Lake Ontario during the second celebration of the new year, the first being New Years Eve. You probably made a drunken promise to yourself the night before to do something so crazy that you wouldn't do it alone. No, you can only do it with family, friends and several hundred other people giving you the courage to do something like this on January 1st, 2018.

Sunnyside Beach Park is the place - right at the bathing pavilion where tables will be setup to register the bathers starting at 11am. Then you can huddle under propane heaters, hold your coats close to your body and get mentally ready for the plunge that most people take at a gallop. Some fall early into the water, losing their footing and sometimes their footwear, others go splashing at a mad dash out into the water before flinging headlong into the water or gradually forcing your body into the cold, cold water. You can see photos from the 2017 Polar Bear Dip on my post here.

There might be ice on the lake this year for the dip so they will have to break it up and clear it away to make it ready for the event which takes to the water around noon. If you like attention from the media wear costumes, stay in after most of the crowd has left or go in after the main group has finished.

If you planned it right you could have done the Toronto Santa Speedo run, picked up a free red bathing suit and used the swim suit at the Polar Bear Dip - a win win scenario. And I know you will see some of the Steakin' Speedsters at the Dip supporting charity and making a splash.

NOTE: The 2018 Polar Bare Dip has been cancelled due to the extreme cold.

For those that like their Polar Bear Dip with a little less clothes there will is a Polar Bare Dip planned at Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Islands. You can ring in a happy Nude Year, meeting at noon on January 1 and dipping at 1:30pm. Make sure to contact gene.dare@yahoo.com to confirm the details of the swim first.