Supporters lined the foreshore at the Marakura Yacht Club to view 120 plungers with their brave commitment to help raise funds for the school's Year 6 camp in Dunedin.
The 13th annual Te Anau School Polar Plunge & Star Studded Splash was held on July 30 in good conditions with an air temperature high of 12 for the day and water temp approx. 10 degrees. A number of plungers said the water temp was quite warm.
There were 8 Stars in total who took the plunge with Cameron Davies from The Fat Duck, Possum Power, Kris Dale and another fellow police officer jumped off the Fiordland Historic Cruises MV Faith.
All the remaining Star plungers Te Anau Rugby Club, Dan Hermann from Fiordland College, George Bachelor from Fiordland Pharmacy, Lakeside RD On The Spot Team plunged from the wharf. RD Petroleum raised the most funds at $1006 and won the “Supreme Award” trophy.
The Fiordland Historic Cruises MV Faith took passengers to get the best view of the plungers and all monies from the ticket sales and drinks sold were donated to the camp.
The Polar Plunge is organised by parents of Year 6 children from Te Anau School, and this year Cassie Thomson lead the organising committee.
86 year old Ray Willett, a regular participant was the eldest plunger.
Coordinator Cassie Thomson said,”Kea Kids news found out about the event and sent a small crew down for a student reporter from Te Anau School to do fun interviews through the day to capture the event – and is now published on the New Zealand Herald website.
Sponsorship, sausage sizzle and raffle monies at the time of writing were still coming in but expectations is that they have raised approx.. $9000 for the school camp.
“While it has been a fundraiser for the Year 6 Camp for many years. It's really grown into a great community event in an often drab part of the year. The kids have fun and the community really comes together for a good cause”, Cassie said.
- Julie Walls, Focus Media
