Posted by: Tom Boyd
The name Josiah Middaugh has been synonymous with Mountain Games excellence for more than a decade. The perennial Mountain Games champion (and world-renowned trainer and triathlete) has shown prowess in trail running, the Pepi’s Face Off hill climb, XC Mountain Biking, downriver kayaking and of course the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, where he has been a 10x champion at the summer GoPro Mountain Games.
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at the Winter Mountain Games Preview event, a few new names entered the mix … but they sounded uncannily familiar: Sullivan Middaugh and Porter Middaugh.
For the first time in a money-on-the-line competition, Middaugh’s oldest son Sullivan, age 17, bested his father, taking first place to win the XC Snowshoe 10K. Josiah placed second and pro triathlete Alex Willis came in third.
Sullivan couldn’t recall a time he had ever beaten his father in a competition before.
“I think I beat him a Turkey Trot once,” Sullivan said. “But no, I’ve never beat him in any kind of race like this.”
“He broke away from me with two miles to go, and I thought he went too early,” Josiah said. “But it turns out he didn’t.”
Josiah came through with a wide smile on his face – probably the first time Josiah has ever been smiling while taking second.
Porter Middaugh, Josiah’s youngest son, age 16, took first place in his age division. Not a bad day for the Middaugh family, and a sign that the Middaugh name will be a part of the adventure sports world for a long time to come.
Josiah wasn’t done with competition for the day. As the sun set over the Vail Valley Saturday, Josiah blew the competition away in the Winter Mountain Games Bootlegger event.
On Sunday afternoon, Feb. 27, probably just to drive home the point that he’s still the man to beat, Josiah took first place in the Fat Tire Bike Challenge with a time of 54 minutes and 2 second, beating second-place finisher Brandon Dyksterhouse by a comfortable 22s margin. Nate Maddox was third with a time of 54:35.
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