Ambulances and emergency medical personnel were standing by Saturday afternoon as dozens of hardy northern Ohio citizens plunged into Lake Erie at Cedar Point to raise thousands of dollars for Special Olympics.

Emergency mental health counseling was not available, although some of the spectators bundled up in winter coats against the 17-degree cold on the beach watching the 2007 Cedar Point Polar Plunge seemed to wonder if the participants needed it.

Organizers said 93 men and women wearing little but bathing suits took part, raising more than $15,000 to benefit Special Olympics. That about doubles the $8,000 raised last year, when the Polar Bear Plunge took place at Cedar Point for the first time, said Deb Sidell, area co-director for the event.

The event had been planned for weeks, but Ohio’s worst cold snap of the season began only a few days ago.

Sidell said organizers never considered calling the event off.

Emergency medical personnel and Sandusky city ambulances were on site, and “we could have called it off if it was unsafe,” she said.
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Before they could enjoy the grey lake water, the bathers had to stand for several minutes on the beach in their bathing suits, watching divers from the Sandusky Fire Department clear away chunks of ice.

Then the polar plungers ran into the water.

Some were content to wade in and then get out, but others, such as Montville police officer Travis McCourt, 31, Medina, plunged into the lake.

“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to go all the way,” McCourt said.

McCourt’s official biography on the Montville Police Department Web site says he “loves the outdoors.”

After they completed their plunge, McCourt and other bathers discovered blood on their legs, which had been slashed by ice in the water.

“The ice was cutting our legs up. You don’t even feel it,” McCourt said.

McCourt, who raised $261 for Special Olympics, said everyone he asked for donations asked about his sanity.

“It took very little effort to raise the money �” ‘Better you than me’,” McCourt related.

“I thought he was crazy,” said his wife, Heather McCourt. “But I did help him raise money.”

Sandusky Police Department Officer Tracey Susana, 36, also showed off multiple cuts on her legs after she dried off, but said they only hurt after she became warm.

“You didn’t feel it in the water,” she said.

Susana said she has participated in a polar plunge for eight years, taking part in Ashtabula before shifting closer to home. Her husband, Sandusky police officer Ron Susana, also plunged in Saturday.

Police officers become inured to the cold; they are the ones standing outside in the winter dealing with traffic accidents and other duties, Susana observed.

“We work in it every day,” she said.

Before he plunged into the lake, McCourt won a bathing outfit costume contest, after modeling a sheriff outfit. He had to shed his leather jacket before running into Lake Erie but kept on his cowboy hat and gun belt.

McCourt won a narrow victory in the contest, said Erie County Commissioner Nancy McKeen, who served as a celebrity judge. The bather dressed as Elvis Presley almost bested McCourt.

“He should have done a little more gyrating. He would have won,” she said.

Other plunge participants put up a brave front but admitted the water was freezing.

“I couldn’t even talk when I got out,” said Ryan Blodget, 27, Fremont.

McCourt said he was part of a group of five from Medina, including several fellow police officers.

The group originally had seven people, but two of them discovered important errands they had to run on Saturday, McCourt said.