Outdoors/Adventure

Photos: 2014 Special Olympics Polar Plunge

Sporting costumes and gutsy smiles, more than 1,000 people willingly leaped into the frigid waters of Anchorage's Goose Lake on Saturday for the sixth-annual Polar Plunge.

Participants braved freezing temperatures for the event, a fundraiser for Special Olympics Alaska. Organizers were expecting to receive $400,000 in donations to support athletes with intellectual disabilities as a result of the event.

"Where in the world would you rather be today?" said Special Olympics Alaska president and CEO Jim Balamaci, watching the event unfold in a deerskin and red fox fur hat. "Every year, it gets bigger and stronger."

This year's crop of "plungers" included Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen.-elect Dan Sullivan, who jumped in with their families. This was the first time making the plunge for Murkowski, dressed in a work suit and acting on a promise made to Special Olympics athletes last year. Asked how it felt after her plunge, the dripping-wet senator replied, "Refreshing!" with a broad smile.

Sullivan recalled jumping in last year with his campaign team, and crawling on his elbows into the water with members of his Marine Corps reserve unit during another past event.

The politicians were followed by more than 150 students from five different Anchorage high schools, including more than 80 from Service High School. There were Starbucks baristas, oil and gas industry employees in elf costumes and one group dressed as the costumed cast of "Frozen."

Anchorage resident Annette Kovacs, 44, has done the Polar Plunge every year since its inception. She dressed up as Frankenstein's monster, with a mask on top of her head, green face paint and stuffed screws attached to her neck. She walked like a zombie into the water with her arms outstretched.

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Sitting in the hot tub moments later, she found part of her costume had floated away.

"I lost my head," she said, laughing.

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