Chicago River hosts open swim for first time in nearly a century
For the first time in nearly a century, swimmers took to the open water of the Chicago River on Sunday.
Participants in the Chicago River Swim made their way along a one- or two-mile route downtown.
It was the first time in 95 years that the Chicago River hosted an official open swim. After years of false starts, space was made for 500 experienced open-water swimmers to take the plunge.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson provided opening remarks for the swim.
"The Chicago River Swim is a symbol of Chicago's resilience and progress," Mayor Johnson was quoted in a news release. "Once too polluted for recreation, the river has been restored as one of our city's greatest assets. Today shows how far we've come in reclaiming our environment for future generations."
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) also emphasized how the Chicago River Swim is symbolic of the how much environmental conditions on the river have improved.
"It's been 100 years — the plan to go from an open sewer to a recreation and natural treasure, so today's sort of the kickoff of where we can go," Quigley said.
For generations, as explained by Friends of the Chicago River, the city went on treating the river system like an alley — dumping trash and sewage and damaging conditions for people and wildlife alike.
"After more than 100 years of this abuse, the Chicago River and the others were so polluted that when the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, officials were convinced no one would ever want to fish or swim here — and set the standards incredibly low," Friends of the Chicago River wrote.
But for half a century now, efforts have been under way to clean up the river. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago set up the Deep Tunnel system to reduce flooding and improve waterway quality. Meanwhile, Friends of the Chicago River — founded in 1979 — undertook habitat restoration and long-range planning efforts for river improvement, with efforts ranging from planting wetlands vegetation to encouraging river-friendly land development.
"In the 1950s, Richard J. Daley talked about his hope that someday, we could fish in our lunch hour in the Chicago River, and kids could swim," Quigley said. "Well, we're getting there, folks, but we've still got a ways to go."
The Chicago River Swim published results Sunday.
For the one-mile swim, Levy Nathan, 26, of Chicago won the men's non-wetsuit category, and Olympic gold medalist Olivia Smoliga of Tempe, Arizona — a Chicago area native — won the women's non-wetsuit category. Joe Higgins, 41, of Chicago, won the men's wetsuit category, while Jessica Achtstatter, 41, of Park Ridge won the women's wetsuit category.
For the two-mile swim, Isaac Elimes, 21, of Colorado Springs, won the men's non-wetsuit category with a time of 40:13, while Becca Mann, 27, of Homer Glen, won the women's non-wetsuit category with a time of 40:07. William Sindewald, 39, of Chicago won the men's wetsuit category with a time of 48:27, while Liz Spears, 25, of Gilbert, Arizona, won the women's wetsuit category with a time of 46:37.