Eek! Ice puts monthly lake plunge in jeopardy

Tara Jeffrey A Bright’s Grove man who has taken a monthly plunge into Lake Huron for nearly three years says he doesn’t want to see his streak end any time soon.

Tara Jeffrey

A Bright’s Grove man who has taken a monthly plunge into Lake Huron for nearly three years says he doesn’t want to see his streak end any time soon.

“I’ve been in the lake at least once a month for 35 months straight,” said Rob Rodenhuis, 49, who is often joined by pal Brendan Carney Kilian, 39.

“It’s our little streak that’s going.”

He’s part of a running group that’s been meeting every Monday the past four years. Many participants take a dip in the lake after their summer runs, but Rodenhuis didn’t want to stop there.

“We just find a spot where we can go in, and make it happen,” said Rodenhuis, noting he and Carney Kilian go completely underwater, in their bathing suits.

“[The winter months] are when it gets fun; but it’s just the two of us – the other guys don’t really care to participate,” he said with a laugh.

“We’ve got to the point now where we’ve just got to keep it going.”

He admits he didn’t think January’s dip would happen – after a string of frigid temperatures left everything frozen. But an unusually mild Jan. 11 gave them the perfect opportunity.

“It would be nice to get to 36 months so we can make it a nice, round three years,” he said. “So we’ll see how February goes.”