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Doug McConnell
Doug McConnell, 53, began swimming competitively at age 7. His summers were
spent swimming on a park district team and during the winters, he swam with a
local YMCA team. When Doug competed in the Illinois High School State Meet, he
placed among the top 15 finishers during his junior and senior years. A walk-on
swimmer at the University of Illinois, he broke the varsity record in the 200 yard
butterfly as a freshman, and by the time he was a senior, he was captain of the
men’s team.
Doug will be swimming in memory of his father, David, who passed away from
ALS in 2006 and in honor of the thousands of people throughout the world who
are currently living with the terminal disease. He is using this athletic challenge
to bring attention to ALS, and he has created a comprehensive effort titled “A
Long Swim.”
Through “A Long Swim,” Doug is pursuing his life-long dream of swimming across
the English Channel while also fundraising for scientific research programs at the
Les Turner ALS Research Laboratory at Northwestern University Feinberg School
of Medicine.
Resilience is exactly what Don wants to share with his adopted hometown of
Barrington, especially the students and parents of Barrington. He has a blog that
chronicles his journey not just in the pool or lake, but in life’s little experiences
that come with such an endeavor: www.one-stroke-at-a-time.blogspot.com. In
addition to “resilient living” by example, Don will be swimming The English
Channel to help raise funds for Social Emotional Learning programs for Barrington
220 students. One hundred percent of “One Stroke at a Time” donations will go
to these programs via the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation
(www.220foundation.org).
Don lives in Barrington with his wife, Jennifer, and daughter Rachel.
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