Medicine Hat Polar Plunge for Special Olympics this Sunday

Allen was able to confirm that Medicine Hat’s Josh Van Mulligen will be one of the Tigers taking the plunge into a dumpster filled with ice-cold water.

The 2026 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games, Aug. 11-15, is set to be the biggest sporting event the city has ever hosted, with more than 1,700 participants expected, at least 1,200 volunteers, plus friends and family.

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READ: One year away from Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in Medicine Hat (Aug. 11, 2025)

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Funds raised at the Polar Plunge aren’t designated for the Summer Games, but will be used to fund year-round programming in Medicine Hat.

“The Special Olympics runs pretty much every evening in Medicine Hat, they’re doing floor hockey, or they’re doing bowling or basketball or weightlifting, and they’re doing this on a regular basis throughout the year,” Allen said.

“This money will stay in Medicine Hat and be used only in Medicine Hat to help pay for all of those events for our athletes.”

Allen said there are several benefits for these athletes to compete in sports.

“They’re learning the benefits of sports, of working with a team, learning how to fail, and how to succeed properly. Learning how to deal with all of those things,” Allen said.

“Then you’ve also got all of the benefits of sports from hand eye coordination, physical fitness, confidence, and the growth that you see in the athletes throughout all of this is fantastic.”

The day of the Polar Plunge will be an entertaining event, according to Allen, with hot tubs to warm up in.

“We’re gonna have some music, there’s going to be hot coffee provided by Station Coffee,” Allen said.

“You will see a large Alley Cat dumpster with a liner and it’s filled with water and people climbing up a scaffold so they can jump in, and the best part is people standing up on top of the scaffold just ready to jump into this Dumpster full of clean water and I promise it’s clean and you see the regret in their face and then realizing that there’s no way they can get out of it at this stage. That’s my favourite part of the Polar Plunge,” Allen said.

“Although this year it’s going to be 12 degrees and I think it’s actually gonna be quite quite lovely.”

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READ: CHAT News reporter Jesse Gill takes the ‘plunge’ for Special Olympics in Medicine Hat (Feb. 8, 2025)

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Announced by Allen for the first time is a summer event taking place right around the same time as the 2026 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in August.

“We’re actually going to have a Solar Plunge. We’re going to have another tub filled with ice water, the ice donated by Icy Mountain Water Company, and we’re going to have this icy water for people to jump into, and it’ll hopefully be plus 30, but the water will be as close to zero as we can get it,” Allen said.

For those interested in participating in the Polar Plunge, Allen outlined the details.

“It’ll be $50, and you can register right then and jump, and that money all goes to the Special Olympics, but I would encourage people to register prior and then at least they can throw it up on their socials and see if they can raise some money,” Allen said.

“We have some pretty cool awards for milestones for raising money.”

Registration for the Polar Plunge begins Sunday at noon, with plunges starting at 1 p.m.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat Polar Plunge for Special Olympics this Sunday

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