Wild, Wooly Walrus Wromp : Celebration: Club marks the holidays with a brisk run and dip in the ocean.

Daybreak Friday found 75 Walruses gathered here on a hill, barking loudly as they raced toward the surf and then, at the conclusion of their run, plunging into the Pacific Ocean.

It’s not the most traditional holiday celebration, but for members of the Newport Beach Walrus Club, Friday’s festivities were the latest chapter in an increasingly popular annual ritual that mixes fitness and frivolity.

As they have for the past five years, select members of the Newport Beach Athletic Club--along with their friends and wives--gathered on the bluffs overlooking the Corona del Mar shore. Taking off just after dawn, they ran nearly 2 miles to the beach before their walrus swim.

Though they faced no icebergs or arctic blasts--this being in usually temperate Orange County, after all--every one of the club members braved a cool Southern California morning and chilly water. The air temperature was about 52 degrees and the water a bracing 58.

“People eat their cookies or go to parties, but no one does something like this,” said Mickey Rowe, 52, a Newport Beach realtor who was running her fifth race. “This allows people to get together at Christmastime and have some healthy fun.”

Others come for the oddity of the event. “It’s just a crazy and weird thing to do,” said three-time veteran Chuck Hardy, 53, of Corona del Mar.

The tradition began in 1986, when six members of the men’s athletic club ran on the spur of the moment to the ocean and jumped in.

Over the years, the group has grown, as other members and their friends have been invited to participate. The walrus emblem was selected, and commemorative T-shirts were issued to those who had “earned their tusks.”

“We just decided to go do it one day,” said Rowe’s husband, Phil, one of the original six. “It’s great. I’ll do it until I’m 70.”

“You can’t think about it too much,” added Jim Hanley, a retired school principal who was running his fourth race. “If you think about it too much, you don’t go in.”

Nearing 7 a.m., the runners, dressed in shorts or sweat suits, gathered at the clubhouse, a modern gym in an Avocado Avenue mall here. To set the proper mood, club owner John Bazacas trucked in tons of snow.

The men and women stretched, kidded around and hurled snowballs at each other. After receiving warnings to heed the traffic lights, the runners gave a quick Walrus bark and set off.

At the hilltop above the beach, they paused, waiting for the stragglers to catch up. Then Rudy Svercek, the club’s unofficial leader, took charge. “OK, Walrus buddies, let’s go!” he cried.

The barking swelled. And down they went. They shed their sweat suits and other heavy clothing and ran across the sand. Screams and yells followed.

“It felt great,” said Barry Michaelson, a Newport Beach lawyer, as he stepped out of the water.

“It’s invigorating,” added his running partner, Dennis Klarin, 51, of Newport Beach. “The run warms you up, and the water cools you down.”