Ottawa, Ontario – January 1, 2012 – Sears Great Canadian Chill – Stopping Kids Cancer Cold

Ottawa, Ontario – January 1, 2012 – The Great Canadian Chill – Stopping Kids Cancer Cold

Well folks, Graeme and I, were able to get to Britannia Beach again this year to watch and photograph many, many, many brave souls jumping into the icy waters of the Ottawa River.

As we did last year, we will be uploading a selection of photos from the event for our blog followers to enjoy. Since it is New Year’s Day, we have family commitments too so our uploads might take a day or two. Had a fun time and kept my feet definitely warmer than last year!

Note: Since this blog entry will, in the end, contain hundreds of photos, and be viewed many times, page breaks have been be added to help speed loading. Graeme shot video of most of the event and is in the process of editing. UPDATE January 3, 2012 – The video is now on-line for public viewing at: Sears Great Canadian Chill – A Polar Bear Jump – January 1, 2012 – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Weather conditions for the event were excellent as the temperature was just below the freezing point and there was no significant wind blowing.

When I arrived, the parking lot was full and there were plenty of people arriving at the registration tent.

One of the first people that I met was Speed-o Steve’s jumping partner from last year, Mike, who told me a health issue would keep him from jumping into that cold water again this year. Santa was there to console him though, so that made things a bit better.

Last year, Mike was in mid-air in his somewhat abbreviated Santa outfit when I caught Speed-o Steve breaking the surface. This year, Mike was doing his best to keep from jumping in anyway!!! His friends tried to hold him back! Really, they did :-).

I refuse to identify the owner of the foot on the grounds that his wife might find out 🙂

As usual, CTV was well represented just as they were last year, and spectators were out in large numbers

Steve (a.k.a. Speedo Steve) once again had the role of being leader of the pack.  Once he got the parka off, to the cheers of the spectators, he stood quietly as various announcements were made. Not a shiver, not a flinch – great work Steve!

With some of the announcements out of the way, the show was on, or at least for the first few participants, the show was on. A few more announcements before the next wave came to the plunge line.