January 02, 2006

Coney Island Polar Bears take in 103rd New Year dip

Coney Island Polar Bear Club made its traditional New Year's Day swim in the Atlantic Ocean, not such a feat when you consider many of the group's members make the plunge every Sunday during the winter swim season from October through April.

The Coney Island Polar Bears is the oldest winter bathing club in the United States. It was founded in 1903 by Bernarr Macfadden, the "Father of Physical Culture," who beleived a wintertime ocean dip was a "boon to one's stamina, virility and immunity," according to the Polar Bears' web site.

The web site conveniently offers a wind chill calculator, an online shop selling T-shirts and a white fur hat, and quite sensibly, the Q&A section starts off with the query: "Are you folks nuts?"

January 2, 2006 09:03 AM in Cheap Stuff, Out of Manhattan, Sports

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