Polar Plunge raises Special Olympics funds

NEWPORT, Ky., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Kentucky-Ohio Special Olympics fundraiser said it had teams with names like "The Frozen Zombies" plunging into an outdoor pool of sub-freezing temperatures.

Dozens of teams, totaling 481 people, took the annual Polar Plunge in Newport, Ky., and raised $117,703 Saturday, beating the 2009 record of $97,000, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

"It was a great turnout, considering the weather," Paige Ludwig, the marketing and development director for Special Olympics Ohio, said.

This is the plunge's 11th year, and the fifth time the two states' Special Olympics fundraisers have collaborated on the event, the newspaper said.

Features included a human cockroach, who belly-flopped into the pool, splashing onlookers. "Cupid" shot fake arrows, and in a Chris Farley-esque routine, a weighty "Chippendale dancer" stripped his tuxedo to music before jumping in.

"My niece has Down (syndrome) and she's going to be a Special Olympian," said one intrepid Bridgetown soul, who was plunging for the second time. "I'm doing this because it's for a great cause."

"It's kind of like riding a roller coaster. Once you get into that car, you're along for the ride. It's the same thing with (the Polar Plunge. Once you walk onto that platform, you're jumping," veteran plunger Jeff Iker of Northern Kentucky University's "Norce Force" team, said.