LOL ... I did it once ...
The event is totally unsponsored by the City of Chico and nobody claims to be the organizer although we all know who the guilty parties are
he happens to be an inactive kite enthusiast too. Kite flyers always seem to be just off center enough that somebody else might've been up for taking a swim in January so I had my suit, towel and flip-flops with me just in case.
The year I did it the water was over the banks of that pool and rushing faster then was really safe, there were concerns that people might go over the dam so a safety rope was strung across upstream of the dam and they were encouraging people to start a good distance from the dam. I hit the water and looked back to see the two people who were with me climbing back out, light weights. Well I was in so I was going, but about half way across a kid I was passing seemed to be floundering a bit in the water and the parents must've hit the water and bounced quickly to the other side since I couldn't see anybody else paying attention so I had to cut my pace to a dog paddle to stay with the young man. We both made it safely to the other side without help, in fact the kid probably didn't even know I was standing by just in case so he got the full pride of accomplishment. But kicking that submerged log when I went feet down into a dog paddle with frozen toes hurt like heck!
Some Neoprene socks would make doing that easy, the frozen feet were only part I recall being too unpleasant, the burning skin warms quickly as well as those other parts too
the funniest Seinfeld I saw
