Kingston grandmother Gail McTague is starting 2023 off with a splash. The 78-year-old grandmother of four took a dip in the frigid Lake Ontario waters off of Portsmouth Olympic harbor on Monday to raise money for grandmothers in Africa.
“It’s horrible going in, I have to admit,” she said. “The first two minutes is pretty tough, but after that, it’s comfortable. When you finish, you are just lit up.”
A member of local charity, “Kingston Grandmother Connection,” this is the second year in a row that McTague has hosted a solo polar plunge, challenging herself to stay in the water for five minutes.
McTague doesn’t shy away from the cold, though. She is also part of a group of Kingstonians who swim the lake regularly and practice the popular “Wim Hof” breathing technique. McTague says she takes cold swims twice a week.
“I decided to do the cold swim for myself and I thought, well, if I can use it to raise some money for the grandmothers, why not?”
“It’s a really fun event. Mostly, we just want to support Gail so much, she’s so courageous,” added Jean Hodgson, another member of the Kingston grandmother connection.
Kingston Grandmother Connection provides funds to NGOs in multiple countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV and AIDS have left many children orphaned and primarily looked after by their grandmothers.
Last year, McTague managed to raise over $4,000 for the organization. This year, she says she doesn’t have a goal in mind but every little bit helps.
A large crowd turned out to support McTague and her polar plunge. While it was warm for a January day — the water at 3 degrees Celsius — it didn’t make the plunge any less challenging.
McTague added, “My knees aren’t even blue today. They were the other day.”