Age was no barrier in yesterday's midwinter swim in the Oamaru Harbour, as 70 years separated the youngest and oldest swimmers.
Daniel Gould, at 8 years old, was the youngest of the 50 swimmers who took part, and Anne Bisson, at 78, the oldest.
Both did the full swim, getting right in to their shoulders while some others took the easy way out at waist level.
But most agreed it was the coldest it had been for the seven years of the Port FM-sponsored event, the temperature being 4degC, but with a cool southwest wind making the chill factor lower than that.
In the polar conditions, two Oamaru teenagers, Erica and Mark Taylor were aptly dressed as penguins.
They took advantage of the cold, wet weather on Saturday afternoon to spend a couple of hours making their costumes, including painting buckets black for their heads, making flippers, colouring shoes and dyeing T-shirts - good enough to win them second prize for the best-dressed.
The most painful way of getting into the water was taken by the Oamaru 26th Squadron Air Training Corp who marched into the water chest-high, before the formation broke up.
All of the others sprinted in, some wanting to get it over and done with as fast as possible, although it was actually warmer in the water than out.
Hot soup and fire barrels were keenly sought-after when the plunge ended. Casey Gordon (14), of Oamaru, won the prize for the longest actually in the water.
