Splashing success: Chicago River Swim a win for Barrington-based group’s search for ALS cure

The swim was in Chicago. The idea came from Amsterdam.

And it was Barrington’s Doug McConnell who was key to propelling the Chicago River Swim into the water Sunday.

More than 260 swimmers took the plunge in a historical event that was part ALS fundraiser, part competition and part celebration of the Chicago River’s rebirth.

“We’re over the moon,” said McConnell, who started the nonprofit A Long Swim with his late sister, Ellen, after their father’s death from ALS.

The group worked for 13 years to make the river swim happen and McConnell, a competitive swimmer, found the kickoff “was emotional.”

“When you’re working on something for so long and you’re witnessing it, it was like: ‘Wow.’ It was just the perfect day.”

The Illinois Athletic Association began hosting popular open swims in the Chicago River in 1908, but this was the first one in 98 years.

Growing up in the region, the Chicago River was infamous for its polluted waters, McConnell recalled.

But strong antipollution laws, improved wastewater treatment, a tunnel and reservoir plan to reduce overflows, and advocacy from environmental groups have brought the river to its cleanest levels on record, officials noted.

University of Illinois Chicago experts, who also test Chicago Park District beaches, sampled river water quality over 19 days to ensure it met public health standards, with results consistently in the “green flag” range.

Swimmers had no complaints.

“Every single person I spoke to was so grateful for the opportunity and believed in the charities, and the opportunity to send a message to other cities around the world that Chicago has really moved it up a notch,” McConnell said.

The event raised $100,000 for ALS research at the Ozdinler Lab of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and $50,000 for youth swimming lessons at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Chicago.

Shortly after Dr. David McConnell’s death from ALS in 2006, his daughter Ellen learned she had the disease.

“It was after Ellen’s diagnosis, where we said, ‘This is crazy, we’ve got to do something.’ She’s the one who came up with the idea of A Long Swim to match ALS,” McConnell remembered. Ellen also encouraged McConnell to undertake multiple long-distance swims in waters, such as the English Channel, to raise funds and awareness.

“We miss Ellen like crazy but she had all the good ideas,” he said.

Amsterdam, which has a charity swim in its canals to assist ALS research, was another inspiration and source of practical advice, McConnell said.

That was needed with multiple logistical and bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. Barrington-based A Long Swim forged relationships with various Chicago governmental entities and in the end, “this was a victory lap for the city,” McConnell said.

“Once too polluted for recreation, the river has been restored as one of our city’s greatest assets,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Sunday.

So, will there be more Chicago River Swims?

“We’d love to make this an annual event,” McConnell said, citing reactions from swimmers. “The consistent message was how pleased they were and how grateful and what a good experience they had. Everyone (wants) to be part of it next year.”