{"id":244851,"date":"2025-09-21T22:07:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T22:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244851\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T22:07:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T22:07:22","slug":"first-chicago-river-race-held-after-nearly-a-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244851\/","title":{"rendered":"First Chicago River race held after nearly a century"},"content":{"rendered":"

Underwater in the Chicago River\u2019s main branch downtown \u2014 a space not many humans, even locals, are familiar with firsthand \u2014 Tim Rooney, 57, felt the rumble of the \u201cL\u201d in his bones.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, he and some 260 others became some of the first people to swim in the waterway again after almost a century<\/a>. It was the culmination of an event more than a decade<\/a> in the making, raising $100,000 for research into ALS, a fatal neurological disorder known also as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease, and celebrating the river\u2019s recovery from its polluted past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a great chance to see the city in a completely different way,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cAnd all the work that\u2019s gone into it, to allow this to happen, to clean it up, is so much progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TimTim Rooney prepares to jump in the water for his 2-mile race during the Chicago River Race on Sept. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (Audrey Richardson\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Growing up in the Beverly neighborhood on the city\u2019s far Southwest Side with his five siblings \u2014 two who would later develop ALS as adults \u2014 Rooney always wanted to jump in the river as a kid, undeterred by its murkiness after he once accidentally fell into the Cal-Sag Channel and didn\u2019t feel ill afterward.<\/p>\n

Dressed in bathrobes, waves of swimmers lined the riverwalk between the Clark and Dearborn Street bridges shortly after morning light broke early Sunday. They stripped to their bathing suits and, to the cheers and hoots of onlookers, jumped in. Doug McConnell, co-founder of event organizer and nonprofit A Long Swim<\/a>, shook hands and shared hugs with those waiting to swim.<\/p>\n

A spectator yelled to a man preparing to dive in: \u201cDon\u2019t drink the water!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my buddy Don,\u201d said Chris Sheehan, 59, of Oak Park. But he wasn\u2019t worried. \u201cI\u2019ve swum a million open-water races,\u201d he added, \u201cin other rivers that are way worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chicago River is the cleanest<\/a> it has been in a long time, especially since the Clean Water Act of the early 1970s. In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the river safe for swimming. Today, the waterway is home to a thriving economy and restored wildlife, including migratory birds<\/a>,\u00a0beavers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0turtles<\/a>, as well as\u00a0almost 70 species of fish<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 up from\u00a0fewer than 10 in the 1970s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to build empathy for the environment,\u201d said Bridget Coughlin, CEO of the Shedd Aquarium. \u201cWe do it with animals. The brilliance of this is to do it with sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Frisbie, executive director of advocacy nonprofit Friends of the Chicago River, said she felt proud of the waterway\u2019s bounceback. Earlier this month, the organization received a global award \u2014 the Thiess International River Prize \u2014 in recognition of its work to restore the 156-mile Chicago-Calumet River system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fine day for the city of Chicago,\u201d Frisbie said, eyes trained on the swimmers.<\/p>\n

Homer Glen native Becca Mann, 27, crossed the finish line first in the 2-mile race, followed closely by Isaac Eilmes of Colorado Springs and Luke Maurer of Chicago. In the 1-mile swim, top finishers included Levy Nathan of Chicago, Olivia Smoliga of Tempe, Arizona, and Ryan Goble of Oswego. <\/p>\n

Mann, a two-time national champion<\/a>, also finished first in last year\u2019s iteration of the Chicago River Swim, which was\u00a0relocated<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Lake Michigan<\/a> when, just two months out, city transportation officials denied a permit<\/a>\u00a0citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\"BeccaBecca Mann, left, of Homer Glen, and U.S. Olympic Swimmer Olivia Smoliga, of Glenview, laugh together while posing for a picture after they raced in the Chicago River Swim on Sept. 21, 2025. Mann placed first in the female no-wetsuit 2-mile division and held the fastest time for the 2-mile division. Smoliga placed first in the female no-wetsuit 1-mile division. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)
\n\"BeccaBecca Mann, of Homer Glen, crosses the finish line during the Chicago River Swim on Sept. 21, 2025. Mann placed first in the female no-wetsuit 2-mile division and held the fastest time for the 2-mile division. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I love swimming in rivers,\u201d she told the Tribune on Sunday. \u201cI think that they\u2019re the most interesting, because you have currents, you have bridges, you have turns. Just being in the river, surrounded by the city, was really an incredible experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

After watching the river get dyed for St. Patrick\u2019s festivities and going on river cruises as a kid, daydreaming of swimming in it, it felt \u201csurreal\u201d to finally be able to do so, Mann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes Chicago even better for me,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Despite progress in the river\u2019s water quality, organizers took safety precautions, including daily monitoring three weeks before the event for fecal coliform bacteria to ensure it met federal standards.<\/p>\n

Drinking or coming into contact with elevated levels of this bacteria can cause an upset stomach, vomiting, fever or diarrhea in people, like some athletes experienced last year after the open-swimming competitions of the Paris Summer Olympics in the iconic Seine River<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LovieLovie Twine, 54, of Austin, celebrates while receiving her medal after she completed the Chicago River Swim, on Sept. 21, 2025. Twine explained that she learned to swim at 42 years old. “I was scared but I’m there now,” Twine said. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

After the finish line \u2014 a yellow arched float under the Clark Street bridge \u2014 participants could wash off with a sprinkler before receiving their medals. \u201cThey should provide some soap,\u201d a swimmer told medical emergency staff with a laugh.<\/p>\n

During the race, Rooney fought off some nausea \u2014 not because of the water quality, but due to the physical exertion. Over an hour into the race, he approached the finish line. A stranger on the riverwalk encouraged him, calling out Rooney\u2019s bib number: \u201cLet\u2019s go, 185!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday became his longest open-water swim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018All right, if we\u2019re in the river, I\u2019ll do 2 miles,’\u201d he recalls thinking, \u201cbecause how many chances do you get to spend that much time in the river?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TimTim Rooney competes in the 2-mile race of the Chicago River Race on Sept. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (Audrey Richardson\/for the Chicago Tribune)
\n\"TimTim Rooney, of Beverly, hugs his daughter, Colleen Rooney, after finishing the Chicago River Race on Sept. 21, 2025. The race began at the Dearborn Street Bridge and finished at the Clark Street Bridge. (Audrey Richardson\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Between swim strokes, his thoughts were mainly with his family, which has been tragically marked by familial ALS several times. His aunt died of the disease in the 1990s, and then his mother in 2000. One of Rooney\u2019s three brothers, John, was diagnosed in 2013 and died in 2016. Another one of his brothers\u00a0also has it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s genetic \u2014 it\u2019s 50\/50. I\u2019m a (gene) carrier. It gets sent down to my kids, same with my nieces and nephews,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cSo, they were on my mind during my swim. I\u2019m doing this and I\u2019m respecting all the people that I know and love that have died from it. But, really, I\u2019m working toward finding a cure that\u2019s going to sustain the rest of my family, for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rooney\u2019s three children and his brother Pete, 59, cheered him on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an inspiration to everyone,\u201d Pete Rooney said.<\/p>\n

adperez@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Underwater in the Chicago River\u2019s main branch downtown \u2014 a space not many humans, even locals, are familiar…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":244852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,746,5386,1818,1370,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-244851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115244567480789363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}