Friday, December 28, 2012
More than 900 jumpers—many of which have made the jump an annual tradition—took the plunge last year.
Hundreds of brave Minnesotans will ring in 2013 with a Jan. 1 dip in the icy waters of Lake Minnetonka. The annual ALARC Ice Dive will once again take place at the Bayview Event Center in Excelsior and give jumpers an option to help raise money for a variety of local charities and nonprofits—including Minnetonka High School students and both boy’s and girl’s hockey teams from Benilde St. Margaret’s. The major beneficiary of this year’s jump will be “The Semper Fi Fund,” which provides immediate financial support for injured and critically ill members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Registration for this year's ice jump must be completed by Dec. 31. Cost to jump is $25 plus tax, and $30 for those registering on jump day. …
Monday, January 2, 2012
Have photos or video from Sunday's jump you want to share? Post them here.
They jumped in bikinis and Speedos, Hawaiian-patterned swim trunks and lucky T-shirts. Whatever their choice of attire, all rang in 2012 with a frigid Sunday morning dip in Lake Minnetonka. Final numbers are still being tabulated, but the Bayview Event Center in Excelsior welcomed about 900 jumpers from throughout the state and as far away as Columbia to the 34-foot long, five-foot deep test of will. Reasons for being in Excelsior were as varied as the participants. “This is the real way to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka,” Gregg Little of Eden Prairie said, referencing Prince’s popular 1984 movie Purple Rain. “I had an absolutely horrible 2011—I don’t want to get into it—and I just felt I needed to do this today.” Tim …
Friday, December 30, 2011
Registration closes at midnight Dec. 31.
“Jumping into the water is something you don’t want to think about,” said Bill Wenmark, founder of ALARC Fitness and Friends. He was talking about the ice dive into Lake Minnetonka on New Year’s Day. If you think too much about plunging into the 32-foot long trench cut into the ice, Wenmark continued, you might just psych yourself out. Once you dive, go all the way under water. Wenmark, and the crowd, will make sure of it or send you back through the line. It’s worth it, though, according to Wenmark. “You jump in there and everything that happened in 2011 is erased off the hard drive,” he said. “Now you’re so excited. Your whole year of 2012 is ahead of you.” Hundreds of people are expected to attend the ALARC sponsored Ice Dive at the …
