Swimming Events
Join An Open Water Swimming Event &
Raise Funds For ALS Research
A Long Swim designs and manages open water swimming events raising funds for
ALS collaborative world class research.
English Channel Swim
Marathon Swimming For A Cause
A Long Swim has raised $500,000 for ALS research, dedicated to the groundbreaking and collaborative research
at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, one of the top
ALS research laboratories in the world.
Swimming the English Channel
Doug McConnell, with the help of his A Long Swim Team, became only the 48th person over age 50 to
swim the English Channel, in 14 hours that were divided between heavy waves and pitch black darkness.
Read more about Doug McConnell’s English Channel Swim.
Ka’iwi Channel Swim
Hawaii’s Ka’iwi Channel
In July 2016, A Long Swim dedicated themselves to swim Hawaii’s Ka’iwi Channel between the islands of Molokai and Oahu. Most of us refer to it as the Molokai Channel, but in native Hawaiian, it is called the Ka’iwi Channel (pronounced “kah-EE-vee”) and translates to the “Channel of Bones.” All in the name of ALS research.
Only a few successful swims
The Ka’iwi Channel has only been successfully swum by 35 solo swimmers. That’s one of the reasons that it is
not as well-known (or as well-publicized) as, say, the English Channel, which has been successfully
completed by some 1,300 swimmers.
To keep it all in perspective, about 5,000 mountaineers have summited Mt. Everest.
Read more about Doug McConnell’s “Channel of Bones” swim.
Speaking Engagements
Speaking Engagements
he assembled and trained a team to achieve that goal. In the process,
Doug employed some powerful principles that apply to every successful businessperson and athlete.
Doug is available to speak at public and corporate events
Read how Doug took business lessons and applied them to another outrageous goal:
swimming the English Channel.
Q&A: Doug McConnell, Co-Founder of A Long Swim
Chicago Athlete Magazine, by Holly Petrovich | June 1, 2018
Q: How did you first get involved with swimming?
A: I was a swimmer since I was a little kid; I started with the summer league team at the East Dundee Park District, and not because I was a good swimmer but because I had older sisters who were both really good and they had a lot of fun with it. I felt like I had found my niche; I swam at the Elgin YMCA through high school, and did pretty well. After college, once I started building a career and family, I would swim periodically at masters meets to keep my hand in it. Read the entire article online.