Ahead of the group, the event’s organisers - six regular Werribee visitors who took their first winter dip in 2017 in honour of their relative and friend Bob Tottle, who had just been diagnosed with MND - spent Saturday rattling tins on their Krunk Tour Pub Crawl.
Together with donations taken at the Mathoura Football and Netball Club games the same day, a total of $1459.60 was raised.
Another $1187.75 has been raised through the online donation platform so far.
Organiser Kylee Healy said the group was “really happy” with how much they were able to raise, and is extremely thankful for the community’s support each year.
While technically the water was no colder than previous years, sitting at around 9°C, Ms Healy said it felt the coldest year yet.
“We had a couple of newbies who said it wasn’t as cold as they thought it would be, but it felt a lot colder to me,” she said.
“It is probably due to the fact that we missed last year, so maybe we had forgotten just how cold it actually is.”
Ms Healy said that once again the community was incredibly welcoming and supportive of the group.
“We visited seven places on our Saturday pub crawl,” she said.
“Everyone had their coins ready for us to collect - I think they have become very used to us taking over the town in our blue beanies for the weekend.”
The online fundraiser remains open. If you would still like to donate, go to https://hub.fightmnd.org.au/diy-big-freeze-8/deni-big-freeze-1.