City delays fall plan for open-water swim in Chicago River

CHICAGO (AP) — Efforts to organize an open-water swim in the Chicago River this fall will be delayed by at least one year.

Doug McConnell and his co-organizer Don Macdonald wanted to coordinate a 2.4-mile swim in the Chicago River in September. But McConnell says convincing the relevant city authorities to allow the swimming has proved to be tougher than anticipated.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events informed the team last week that they would need to postpone their swim. The organizers’ new target for the swim is September 2020.

McConnell says the swim would raise money for Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine to conduct research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://chicago.suntimes.com/