WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE

In 1970, two years before his son Mark won seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Arnold Spitz told Sports Illustrated, “Swimming isn’t everything, winning is.” Of course, winning is when you’re pitting your ability against the bodies shooting through the water next to you. But sometimes, the competition isn’t another athlete, it’s an environment. Like English climber George Mallory, who made three attempts to ascend Mount Everest “because it’s there,” open water swimmers set themselves challenges that aren’t about wins. For these swimmers, whose competitors are pounding waves, poor visibility, and frigid water, the end goal is achievement. And for open water swimmer Doug McConnell, that sense of achievement is driven by philanthropy.

A Barrington resident, McConnell has been swimming all his life. At age 6, he tagged along with his older sisters to the East Dundee Park District pool and never looked back. He swam competitively in high school and at the University of Illinois, where he was twice voted Most Valuable Swimmer and was team captain his senior year. Decades after he received his diploma and years into a successful career in finance, McConnell’s relationship with water took on a whole new dimension.

“About 18 years ago, I got a call from my brother-in-law who is an Ironman triathlete,” recalls McConnell. “Like many triathletes, his weakest event is the swim. He was going to be in our area for an open water swim in a lake and asked me to come along. It didn’t interest me at all. But he said he’d take me to breakfast afterward and I said, ‘Okay.’” McConnell took to open water the way he had to his childhood pool. In 2011, at age 53, he swam the English Channel.

“I was definitely not in my prime as a swimmer,” admits Mc- Connell. But this swim wasn’t just a test of his abilities; rather, it was the beginning of McConnell’s commitment to a cause, a very personal cause. His father and sister both suffered from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disease. Inspired by the visibility the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure brought to breast cancer—McConnell decided to make long, open water swims a fundraising vehicle for ALS.

“Normally ALS patients succumb in three to five years,” notes McConnell. “Both my father and sister lived 12 years post-diagnosis. It is uglier than hell to watch someone die that way. And the powerlessness you feel is just overwhelming. So, we decided to do something.”

Before his sister Ellen died, she and McConnell created A Long Swim, a nonprofit that borrows the ALS acronym and is dedicated to raising funds for ALS research. The project launched with Mc- Connell’s English Channel crossing. Four months before that effort, McConnell had trained by swimming the 24-mile length of Tampa Bay. In the years since, he has swum around the island of Manhattan and crossed the Catalina Channel, achievements that, combined with the English Channel swim, constitute the Triple Crown of open water swimming.

A Long Swim events attract 200-300 participants, many of whom are triathletes attempting to up their game and most are women. “Open water marathon swimming is really a women’s sport,” shares McConnell. “There are a whole bunch of reasons, but for extreme endurance events, women are better suited. In fact, of all the roughly 2,000 people who have swum the English Channel, a man holds the fastest time ever but the average women’s time is an hour faster than the average men’s time. “

To date, A Long Swim has raised approximately $2 million for research at the Ozdinler Lab of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, one of the top ALS research centers in the nation. One of the bigger local events McConnell has orchestrated is the NW2NW, a 13-mile swim from Northwestern’s Evanston campus to the School of Medicine campus near Ohio Street Beach in downtown Chicago. “People can swim it solo, or as a relay,” says McConnell. I think that’s really going to turn into something because it is a manageable distance.”

At 65, McConnell isn’t about to hang up his Speedo any time soon. This summer, he’s setting himself a personal challenge— swimming from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket. He’s attempted the 18 miles before but never made it. Nobody has. “The challenge is,” says McConnell, “you swim mostly east to west and the tidal current runs north to south. Our hope is once we prove it can be done we can turn it into A Long Swim event.”

If all goes well, McConnell will also realize a long-held ambition this fall by hosting a competitive swim in the Chicago River. In the early 20th century, such events were common and drew massive crowds. In 1927, Chicago-raised Olympian-turned-Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller participated in such a race and swam to victory. “For years, of course, the river was unbelievably toxic,” admits McConnell, “but it’s been cleaned up quite a bit. I’ve swum in it. We’re hoping to attract 200 swimmers for a route from a kayak launch in Chinatown, north up the South Branch, then along the Riverwalk to Clark Street.” And you thought the greening of the river on St. Patrick’s Day was a sight to behold. Such a swim would be the ultimate celebration of the Chicago River and a testament to McConnell’s strong stroke rate and even stronger philanthropic spirit.

For more information, please visit alongswim.org.