Once More Unto The Beach: RAG Polar Plunge

A bake sale. A mufti day. A sponsored walk. All perfectly sensible, rational ways to raise money. Low stakes. Painless. The prudent approach to philanthropy.

And yet, it is only in St Andrews that running headlong into the North Sea in February presents itself as a logical alternative.

St Andrews students are no strangers to those icy depths. From Raisin antics to the annual May Dip, there is no shortage of opportunities to hurl oneself into water that could only be charitably described as “refreshing.”

And so, when Raising and Giving (RAG) week rolled around, I suppose the Polar Plunge, a brisk dip in the sea followed by the promise of hot chocolate, felt less like madness and more like routine.

Having previously failed my swimming test and being (in truth) a fairly unimpressive swimmer, I possessed a wholly unearned confidence going into this trial. This confidence hastily evaporated somewhere between the bracing winds felt from the Scores and the first sight of the menacing steel-grey swell. I was about to discover entirely new definitions of “out of my depth.”

Descending the steps to Castle Sands, we were greeted by the indefatigable team behind RAG week: cheerful, encouraging, and extremely well-layered. What we lacked in number, we made up for in spirit. Smiling despite the chill, “we few, we happy few” assembled on the sand, attempting to remain somewhat dignified while hopping from foot to foot to preserve circulation. A countdown finished with us hurtling into the swell. The North Sea, it turns out, does not gently receive you, but attacks you with temperatures one can only describe as downright Siberian. We emerged quickly, the committee triumphantly, and I, having lost my dignity beyond the break.

But how does plunging into freezing water translate to fundraising success? Well, there is a method to this madness. In this case, it is the destination that matters, not the journey. Hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and fortified with Baileys awaited us on shore, priced at £3 a cup, a reward for such reckless altruism. In the immortal words of Shakespeare’s Henry V: “the fewer men, the greater share of honour,” or at least in our case, the greater share of spiked hot chocolate.

The proceeds from RAG Week will be equally split between three charities: Fife Women’s Aid, which supports victims of domestic abuse; Centrepoint, which works to combat youth homelessness; and Doctors Without Borders, which provides humanitarian medical aid worldwide. If ever there were causes worthy of mild hypothermia, they would be these.

Do keep an eye out for other RAG events. Race 2, the St Andrews Charity Hitchhike race, is headed to Madrid this year — a welcome change for the committee, who, having braved Castle Sands in February, surely deserve some Iberian sunshine. After defying the North Sea, continental Europe will feel positively tropical.

If we’re going to lose feeling in our extremities, it might as well be for a good cause.

Once more unto the beach, dear friends. Just perhaps with an extra thermal next time…

Photo: Alex Barnard