Taking The Plunge Would-Be Polar Bears Gathered For Swim Quickly Leave Water After Realizing They Lack Winter Necessity - Fur

Brotherly rivalry delivered Neil and Graeme Membrey to the chilly shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene Friday, ready to dive into icy water.

Both are from Australia and Graeme is visiting Neil, who now lives in Spokane. Earlier this week, the brothers started challenging each other to do crazy things.

“This was the ultimate, to come out and do this,” said Neil Membrey, 43.

They joined hundreds of others at Sanders Beach for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Cars lined the street and spectators brought cameras and camcorders. The unofficial event was launched in 1979 by two Coeur d’Alene high school students.

Fifteen minutes before the plunge, a man in a green bathrobe, purple party hat, sunglasses and a fat cigar clenched between his teeth strode onto the beach holding a Mickey Mouse wall clock high above the crowd.

A group of similarly dressed compadres trailed behind him. Once situated near the front of the beach, the group yelled, “What’s the unofficial, official time, Mr. Timekeeper, Sir?”

The whole group yelled back in unison. “Fifteen more minutes!”

When the clock struck noon, the last bits of clothing dropped to the ground and the crowd pushed into the water, shrieking. Almost as quickly, they rushed out, running for towels and clothes.

Wade Zaharie of Post Falls called the plunge “invigorating. We were just talking about the Titantic and how long you could actually last out there.”

“The five seconds I was out there was enough,” chimed in his friend, Mike Anast of Coeur d’Alene.

“There’s so much hype, with so many people. It just helps push you on,” Zaharie said.

The Australian brothers did the dash twice.

“The girls missed us on the camera,” said a shivering Graeme Membrey, “so we had to go in for a second one. The first one wasn’t so bad, but the second time just kills you.”

Earlier in the day, 533 people ran or walked in the 22nd annual Hangover Handicap Fun Run, a five-mile race along the Centennial Trail.

Jerry Martin and Chris Morlan were the first wheelchair racer and first male runner, respectively, to cross the finish line.

Martin, a smiling 50-year-old from Cheney, and Morlan, a blond Spokane man 19 years his junior, duked it out for first place. Morlan dashed ahead of Martin when the thin layer of ice on the trail put Martin’s wheelchair into a spin.

“I fish-tailed and went off the road,” Martin said. “I just grabbed hold (of the wheel) and brought her out of the skid.”

Martin overtook Morlan on the downhill ending of the race, finishing in 26 minutes, to Morlan’s 26:17.

The race benefits TESH, an organization for disadvantaged and disabled people. Last year, $3,500 was raised through race entry fees and sponsorships. The race starts and ends near the corner of Sherman and Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive.

“It’s a good way of starting the New Year,” said Suzanne Burnside, 33, of Coeur d’Alene. Burnside was the first woman across the finish line for the third year in a row, with a time of 32 minutes and 20 seconds.

The New Year had just dawned when Emilie Sparks screamed her way into the world at 2:35 a.m., the first baby born at Kootenai Medical Center. At 7 pounds, 8 ounces, she was the first child of Coeur d’Alene residents Shoshoni Senn and Bryce Sparks, both 19.

“I still can’t stop smiling,” Sparks said, as his daughter wailed in the background. “She’s doing wonderful.”