Making a splash

By Lachlan Ellis

It was as pleasant a day as it could’ve been to plunge into some icy water in the middle of winter, when fourteen locals made the plunge on Saturday, and in doing so, helped raise around $60,000 for FightMND.

Though the sunshine wouldn’t have dulled the shock of landing in the freezing pool, this year’s sliders at the Big Freeze in the Marsh no doubt got a warm, fuzzy feeling from being a part of the big day.

Close to $45,000 has been raised on the Big Freeze in the Marsh’s page, with beanie sales estimated at around $15,000 on the day, putting the total amount close to a whopping $60,000, though the tally is still being counted at the time of writing.

The sun was shining at Maddingley Park as the sliders went one after another following Bacchus Marsh’s match against Melton South, with the costumes ranging from Dame Edna, to the Little Mermaid, and Cobras President Ian ‘Macca’ McClure sliding down as Ronald McDonald.

Hundreds of people flocked to the FightMND slide near the cricket nets to watch, with plenty of second-hand splashes hitting those who got too close.
Mr McClure said it was incredible to see the level of support the community had shown for the event, and the fight against motor neurone disease.

“It doesn’t matter how cold that water is, it’s well worth it to support the cause. In three years of doing this, we’ve raised nearly $200,000 towards fighting MND. The drive and the passion from Anne Phyland has been incredible,” he told the Moorabool News.

“It’s amazing, I’m so proud of our community and what they’ve given.”

This year’s event was the first without Greendale’s Phil O’Keefe, who was the local face of the fight against MND, battling hard against the beast from his diagnosis in 2015 until sadly passing away on May 25 this year.

“Phil was a very courageous man. To battle something like MND for eight years, and maintain his dignity, is amazing. Thanks for backing this event has to go out to the community, to Melton South for getting involved, and a special thanks to the Greendale community for not only this year’s support, but their ongoing support,” Mr McClure said.

Mr O’Keefe’s friends Neal Morgan and Nick Myrianthis paid tribute to their mate before taking the plunge.

“He had the last laugh on us and got us to do this. The last thing he asked us was to go down the slide into this pool of ice. Go mate, we’re doing it,” they said.

Donations are still open online, so if you’d like to donate and help fight MND, visit bit.ly/BigFreeze2023.