Doug McConnell
Douglas McConnell is a Managing Director of Halyard Capital Advisors and a cervical disc recipient who successfully completed a crossing of the English Channel in August 2011 and the Catalina Channel on 27 September 2012 in 12 hours 41 minutes to complete 2 of the 7 channels in the Oceans Seven. Both of his channel crossings elevated him to membership in the Half Century Club and were part of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and Grand Slam of Open Water Swimming.
The 59-year-old investment banker of Barrington, Illinois who owns Vissant Capital (the phonetic spelling of the Bay where he completed a English Channel crossing), became the 48th person over the age of 50 to swim across the English Channel when he reached France after swimming 14 hours 18 minutes. McConnell started in Dover, England about 1:00 p.m. local time and finished at 3:00 a.m. He swam in memory of his father David, who passed away from ALS and to raise money for the Les Turner ALS Foundation's research program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Contents
A Long Swim Team
A Long Swim Team is a series of marathon swims by Doug McConnell in order to raise funds for the Les Turner ALS Foundation. McConnell has raised over US$200,000 to date for the Les Turner ALS Foundation, which funds groundbreaking research at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, one of the top ALS research laboratories in the world. On the day that McConnell finished his English Channel crossing, Northwestern made a breakthrough announcement of the discovery of the common cause of all forms of ALS, and has accelerated its pace of discoveries since then. He will attempt the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and the Catalina Channel crossing in order to achieve the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Open Water Swimming Career Successes
- He competed in the Big Shoulders Swim in Lake Michigan, Illinois for many years.
- He competed in open water swims in Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota for many years.
- He attempted a 42 km crossing of the Molokai Channel on 31 July 2016 in 16 hours 3 minutes, pulled 2 km short of Oahu.
- On 17 July 2010, he completed a 10 km swim in Morse Reservoir in Indiana in 2 hours 50 minutes 14 minutes at the age of 52.
- On 14 August 2010, he completed the 12.9 km Boston Light Swim in Massachusett in 3 hours 8 minutes 49 seconds at the age of 52.
- On 23 April 2011, he completed the 37 km Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida in 10 hours 44 minutes at the age of 53.
- On 18 June 2011, he completed a 25 km swim in Morse Reservoir in Indiana in 7 hours 27 minutes 42 seconds at the age of 53 at the U.S. Masters Swimming national championships.
- On 21 August 2011, he completed a crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 14 hours 18 minutes at the age of 53.
- On 27 September 2012, he completed a 32.3 km crossing of the Catalina Island from Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland in 12 hours 41 minutes 13 seconds at the age of 54.
- On 28 June 2014, he completed the 45.8 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in New York in 9 hours 39 minutes 24 seconds at the age of 56 to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and the Grand Slam of Open Water Swimming.
- On 20 June 2015, he completed a 15 km swim in Morse Reservoir in Indiana in 4 hours 38 minutes 58 seconds at the age of 57.
- He attempted 3 times in 2019, August 2021, and 27 July 2022 to swim 29 km from Eel Point on Nantucket to Chappaquiddick Island, part of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Catalina Channel Half Century Club
1. Jim Clifford (USA), 62 years 11 months, CM in 9:49 on 28 September 2014
2. Bob West (USA), 62, CM in 15:49 in 1998
3. Gary Greenwood (USA), 62, CM in 13:08 in 2004
4. Pat Gallant-Charette (USA), 60, CM in 14:11 in 2011
5. Mo Siegel (USA), 60, CM in 13:08 in 2011
6. Scott Lautman (USA), 60 CM in 12:09 in 2013
7. Bob Needham (USA), 58, CM in 13:10 in 2011
8. Tom Hecker (USA), 57, CM in 10:45 in 2009
9. Richard Knepper (USA), 56, MC in 11:56 in 2005
10. Barbara Held (USA), 56, CM in 9:36 in 2010
11. Mark Smitherman (USA), 56, CM in 11:52 in 2014
12. Carol Sing (USA), 55, CM in 10:38 in 1997
13. Bill Hoehn (USA), 55, CM in 12:57 in 2005
14. Kevin Murphy (Great Britain), 54, CM in 15:23 in 2003
15. Roger Finch (South Africa), 54, CM in 9:45:02 in 2012
16. Dave Van Mouwerik (USA), 54, CM in 12:09:07 in 2012
17. Ned Denison (Ireland), 54, CM 8:50:04 in 2012
18. Peter Tanham (Australia), 54, CM in 10:07 in 2014
19. Anthony McCarley (USA), 54, CM in 13:00.3 in 2014
20. Nick Almos-Lau (Mexico), 53, CM in 12:40 in 1999
21. James Fitzpatrick (USA), 53, CM in 14:59 in 2008 (to Newport Beach)
22. Jim McConica (USA), 53, CM in 10:19 in 2004
23. Douglas McConnell (USA), 53, CM in 12:41:13 in 2012
24. David Cooper (USA), 52, CM in 13:19 in 2005
25. Dan Richards (USA), 52, CM in 10:10 2008
26. Chris Burke (USA), 52, CM in 11:22 in 2014
27. Alan Bell (USA), 51, CM in 9:28 in 2001
28. Chris Palfrey (Australia), 51, CM in 10:30 in 2009
29. Lynn Kubasek (USA), 51, CM in 15:53 in 2009
30. Daniel Robinson (USA), 51, CM in 9:57 in 2008
31. Ron Collins (USA), 51, CM in 10:05 on 10 September 2013
32. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico), 50, CM in 10:25 in 2009
33. William Newbern (USA), 50, CM in 12:48 in 2005
34. Ray Meltvedt (USA), 50, CM in 15:25 in 2010
35. Suzie Dods (USA), 50, MC in 18:36 in 2010
36. Dale Petranech (USA), 50, CM in 13:28 in 1985
37. John Hill (USA), 50, CM in 19:15 in 1985
38. Frank Reynolds (USA), 50, CM in 10:34 in 1987
39. Jim Barber (USA), 50, CM in 8:43 in 2010
40. Sue Free (USA), 50, CM in 11:23 in 2012
41. Bridgette Hobart Janeczko (USA), 50, CM 11:27:16 in 2012
42. Hendrik Meerman (USA), CM, 50, 12:48:30 in 2012
43. Scott Tapley (USA), MC, 50, 17:43:12 in 2014
Video
Chicago River Swim
McConnell organizes and renewed the revamped 2.4-mile Chicago River Swim that starts at the Ping Tom Memorial Park and finishes at the Clark Street Bridge in Chicago,Illinois. The original Chicago River Swim was last organized in 1908 by the Illinois Athletic Club. The event is a charity swim for A Long Swim (www.alongswim.org).
TEDxBarringtonAreaLibrary
TED Talks by McConnell
External links
- Pet, Don't Punch...At Least With Lemon Sharks
- A Long Swim In Rugged Seas by Doug McConnell
- Doug McConnell's Long Swim Amid Half A Million
- A Long Swim Is Going Innovative In 2021
- Douglas McConnell Talks About Virtual Teamwork
- Fastest Times Of The Grand Slam Of Open Water Swimming
- Renaissance Men In The Contemporary Open Water World
- Finishing Strongly In The Second Half Of Life
- Catalina Channel Swimming Federation website
- Douglas McConnell Goes On A Long Swim Again
- @ALongSwim1
- A Long Swim blog
- Doug McConnell Digs Deep vs. A Zillion Little Barbs
- Open Water Swimming
- English Channel website
- Welcome to the English Channel
- Doug McConnell Getting To The Other Shore Doing Good
- Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation
- Catalina Channel Swimming Association
- Oldies But Goodies In The Open Water
- Oldest Men And Women In The Sea
- A Celebration Of Catalina Channel Champions
- I Got Stung By Jellyfish. Tell Your Story
- Develop Your Brain, Number Crunch While Swimming
- A Long Talk Over A Long Swim
- Develop Your Brain, Number Crunch While Swimming
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Doug McConnell Starts To Swim Downhill
- Triple Is Doubled In Once Around Manhattan
- Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming
- Utah's Joelle Beard Joins Triple Crown Of Open Water Swimming
- Four Makes Three, John Walker's Triple Crown
- Triple Crowners Showcase Their Fountain Of Youth - Age of Triple Crowners
- 300,000 And More Reasons To Continue A Long Swim
- Training In The Midwest For Molokai
- Doug McConnell To Discuss A Long Swim
- Doug McConnell On A Long Swim
- Tracking Swimmers Across Your Screen
- A Long Swim Ends Short Of Shore
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Melodee Nugent, The Swimming Statistician
- The Briliance And Creativity Of Sarah Thomas
- Marathon Swimmers Federation bio
- Grand Slam Of Open Water Swimming Updated List
- TEDx Talk About Tides, Teams And Transactions
