Thurso New Year Soakin' called off because of Covid-19 risk
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Thurso's New Year dip has been called off because it would involve "too much risk" given the concerns over an escalation in Covid-19 numbers.
Thurso Community Development Trust (TCDT) ran its inaugural New Year Soakin' at the town's beach on the first day of 2020 with more than 130 people entering the water.
Having had to cancel the event the following year because of the pandemic, organisers had been looking forward to bringing it back for 2022 – but have reluctantly had to pull the plug on it for a second time.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned last week that cases linked to the Omicron variant were rising “exponentially” and repeated her earlier prediction that Scotland was facing a “likely tsunami” of infections.
Carol Paterson, TCDT treasurer and lead fundraiser, pointed out that the registration process involves gathering indoors and emergency services need to be present when people are taking the plunge.
She noted that New Year events in other parts of the north and north-east have also fallen by the wayside. However, she hopes that a community dip can be arranged for the spring instead if circumstances allow.
Carol explained: “Although people register prior to it, we do the registration indoors and of course when they pay their entry fees they're entitled to refreshments back at the Royal British Legion, so again it's indoors.
“When we put it [the cancellation] on Facebook we had one or two unhappy comments. But now that things have actually increased with restrictions, I think it was for the best.
“And of course you've got volunteers, and we have people on the North Coast 500 who can enter on the day. There would be people coming from various places, and the risk was just too great.
“We also have the emergency services to take into consideration. We have the Thurso lifeboat, we have Pentland Canoe Club, we have the Scrabster coastguards and we have first aid responders. There are just too many people involved to put at risk.
“If there is anybody that wants it on, it's me. I'm the most reluctant person to say 'let's cancel something'.
“A decision had to be made and I made it, so we just have to stand by it. And it looks like a sensible one now, the way things are going.
“Like I say, most people think it's just an outdoor event – they think people just rock up and run into the sea.
“But because we have all these safety precautions, people have to register prior to it. And then on the day they have to register, and the reason we get them to register is because we want to have a look at them to see that they're in a fit condition to go into the sea in the first place."
Carol added: “I know what's involved and I know what we get from it. As much as we'd make quite a bit from it from the fundraising and from the entries, it's just too much risk.
“We might try and put something on by springtime if restrictions have eased by then and things are much safer.”
