Fort Langley Polar Bear Swim returns

Fort Langley’s Polar Bear Swim is back.

During the pandemic, the informal event was called off not once, but twice, due to COVID and unusually cold weather conditions, and event founder Darian Kovacs is looking forward to a dip in the frigid waters of Bedford Channel in Fort Langley.

“It’s on,” Kovacs told the Langley Advance Times on Saturday, Dec. 17.

“No call from the RCMP,” he laughed.

That was a reference to what Kovacs described as a polite request from the RCMP one year to “discourage” people from coming out during a severe cold snap.

READ ALSO: Langley Polar Bear Swim cancelled two-times in a row

This year, Kovacs said participants should gather as before, along the beach on Brae Island Regional Park across the Jacob Haldi Bridge from the village, between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on New Year’s Day, Sunday, Jan. 1.

“We’ll all be running in at exactly noon,” Kovacs said.

He and some friends will be out a little earlier to chop any ice that may have formed along the shore, to clear a path into the water.

Kovacs and some friends started the loosely-organized annual event in 2014, and over the years it has grown, drawing crowds in the hundreds before the pandemic hit.

“I think everyone likes a good, fresh start,” Kovacs explained.

“There’s nothing more exciting.”

There is no official organization, no registration, and no entry fees.

READ ALSO: Langley and Aldergrove celebrate the New Year with a cold splash

It appears the other Langley-area cold New Year’s dunking won’t be happening, however.

There will be no Polar Bear Plunge at the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre (ACUCC) in the unheated Otter Co-op Outdoor Experience wave pool (not the covered and heated pool at the centre).

In an unsigned statement in response to an Advance Times query, the Township confirmed there would be no swim.

“There will not be a Polar Bear Plunge at the Otter Co-op Outdoor Experience at the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre (ACUCC) this year.”

In just two years, the event had grown to attract 80 adults and kids before the pandemic forced a shutdown.

Meanwhile, Vancouver’s 103-year-old Polar Bear swim is returning, for its first in-person swim in three years.

The swim was moved online to a “digital dip” at the last minute, at the start of 2022, in compliance with COVID-19 public health orders.

This year, swimmers and spectators will be back to take their annual frigid swim in the waters at English Bay.

Indoor spaces will be available including change rooms, washrooms, lockers, or warming tents. Portable toilets will be available on site.

The event will run from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., with the program beginning at 2 p.m. and the official swim at 2:30 p.m.

Registration with the Vancouver parks, recreation, and culture department is now open, and participants should sign up in advance to receive their participation certificate.