Bill Wenmark on ALARC's New Year's Day Ice Dive
Posted by Steve Frazier
on Jan 03, 2012
Our Program on January 3rd was presented by Bill Wenmark. Bill
is a familiar face around the area, as he has been on the Minnetonka School Board, and is active in a number of school and local area activities. He came to talk about some of his activities, especially ALARC, and the New Year’s Day Ice Dive at Bayview.
The ice dive began 22 years ago, when Bill and 7 others started it at Lake Minnetonka. The location of the dive has varied through the years, but now is permanently at Bayview. Over 950 people “took a dive” this year, down from last year’s record. Bill says that the weather conditions on New Year’s Day controls the numbers who dive. Fifteen below with a –30 wind chill cuts into the crowd, and the chill on the first this year had its effect. There are three persons who have made the dive 20 or more years. The money made by the dive has gone to a number of local and national charitable programs, with this year’s proceeds benefiting “Semper Fi”, an organization that provides continuing support to US Marines with serious disabilities caused in combat.
In the 22 years of diving, only one injury has occurred: a young woman who was jumping in a diving threesome misheard the count, and jumped before her partners and dislocated her shoulder. There is a full complement of emergency experts at each jump: police, EMT, ambulance personnel, and there are always a few doctors among the jumpers.
Bill is also a marathon runner, and in 1976 he established ALARC, which is an organization that prepares people to be successful in running events.
The website is www.alarc.com. Pictures of the recent divers are posted on the site. They also have a Facebook page.
(Pictured her is Bill and Woody having a good laugh after the presentation.)
(Story by Tad Shaw and photo by Steve Frazier)
www.excelsiorrotary.org