I’ve had the amazing good fortune to have participated in seven Winter Olympic Games as an athlete, a coach, the U.S. Biathlon Team Leader, and most recently at Salt Lake, as Chief of Course for the Biathlon events. I've attended scores of National Championships, World Championships, Biathlon World Cup competitions, and the World University Games.

I grew up in Walpole, NH, and skied four events (slalom, downhill, jumping and cross country) for Tilton School, in Tilton, NH. During four years on the Middlebury College ski team, my aptitude for cross country emerged, first as Eastern Intercollegiate Champion in 1966 and ‘68, then as runner up in the 1968 NCAA Championships.

Following college, a four-year assignment to the U.S. Biathlon Training Center at Fort Richardson, Alaska was interupted by a tour of duty in South Vietnam as a mobile advisory team leader. Upon release from active service in 1972, I taught high school English and coached running and skiing in Anchorage. In the autumn of 1978, I was named head coach of men’s skiing at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

After eleven years coaching at Dartmouth, I gave up that position in 1989 to write Don't Look Back, a comprehensive guide to cross-country ski racing, and to begin designing Nordic ski trails.

During the past 18 years, I've developed trails for private landowners, municipalities and schools, resorts, as well as competition venues for major international events such as the World University Games and Biathlon World Cups. I have designed trails throughout northern New England, and in Wisconsin, Michigan, Utah, Colorado, Alaska and South Korea. In the spring of 2002, I was part of an international team of consultants asked to assist with the planning of the new Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands.

Although I began designing trails for cross country skiing, I found that these trails soon became popular with mountain bikers, runners, horseriders, and others. I found that there are common principles associated with fun, quality trails, and I have since worked on many types of trail projects beyond the initial interest in Nordic skiing.

When not thrashing through the forest laying out trails, I write about sports for several publications, and serve as a commentator for Vermont Public Radio. In 1998, I wrote a novel, Medal of Honor, I still compete in cross country skiing and distance running. My family and I make our home at the end of a dirt road, surrounded by ski trails in Thetford, VT.

Positions

Consultant / Designer of Sports Trails / Writer
1989-Present

Sports Commentator, Vermont Public Radio
1994-Present

Interim Program Director, U. S. Biathlon Association, Essex Jct., VT
1992-1993

Head Coach of Mens' Skiing, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1978-1989

English Teacher & Head Ski Coach, Dimond High School, Anchorage, AK
1974-1978

U.S. Army Infantry Officer
1968-1972
Honorable discharge as Captain
Bronze star medal and Combat Infantryman's Badge
U.S. Biathlon Training Center, Ft. Richardson, AK (1968-1970, 1971-1972)

Mobile Advisory Team Leader, Mekong Delta; Instructor-USARV Advisor School,
South Vietnam (1970-1971)

Special Recognition

• Named to US Biathlon Hall of Fame, 2008
• IBU (International Biathlon Union), International Referee (2004 to present) including Lake Placid World Cup, NY (February, 2004) and Fort Kent World Cup, ME (March, 2004)
• Trustee, Tilton School, Tilton, NH (January 2007 to present)
• Member of the Board of Trustees, Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH (2002-2006)
• Chief of Course, Biathlon events, Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Soldier Hollow, UT (February, 2002)
• Technical Deligate, Nordic events, NCAA Championships, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT (March 2001)
• Chief of Course, Biathlon World Cup, Soldier Hollow, UT (February, 2001)
• Chief of Course, U.S. Biathlon National Championships, Soldier Hollow, UT (January, 2000)
• IBU International Referee-Course, Lake Placid World Cup, Lake Placid, NY (February, 1997)
• Executive Council of Vermont Coverts, Woodlands for Wildlife (1994-1997)
• Chairman of the Biathlon Technical Committee of the FISU (International Federation of University Sports) (1994-1996)
• Inducted into The Wearers of the Green (Dartmouth College Athletic Hall of Fame) coaches’ category (April, 1994)
• U.S. Biathlon Team Leader, Winter Olympic Games, Lillehammer, Norway (1994)
• Appointed International Referee by the International Biathlon Union (Jan.,1994)
• Member of the Thetford Academy Board of Trustees, Thetford, VT (1991-present)
• U. S. Biathlon Team Leader, World University Games, Zakopane, Poland (1993)
• U. S. Biathlon Team Leader, Winter Olympic Games, Albertville, France (1992)
• One of 14 Vietnam veterans invited to work with Soviet Afghan War veterans on Outward Bound projects in Uzbekstan (1989), and Hurricane Island, ME (1991)
• Recipient of a full scholarship to U.S. Olympic Academy XII, Penn State University (1988)
• U.S. Biathlon Team Leader, Winter Olympic Games, Calgary, Alberta (1988)
• U.S. Biathlon Team Leader, World Championships, Lake Placid, NY (1987)
• Eastern Regional Coach, U.S. Disabled Nordic Ski Team (1985-1990)
• Winter Sports Representative, U.S. Olympic Committee / U. S. Collegiate Sports Council (1985-1988)
• President, Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (1985-1987)
• U.S. Biathlon Team Head Coach, World University Games, Sofia, Bulgaria (1983)
• Eastern Collegiate “Ski Coach of the Year” (1982)
• Member of U.S. Biathlon Association Board of Directors (1980-1992); Chairman of Training, Competition & Team Selection Committee (1984-1990)
• U.S. Biathlon Team Assistant Coach, Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, NY (1980)
• U.S. Biathlon Eastern Regional Coach (1980-1988)
• Head Coach Alaska Team, Junior National Nordic Championships, Alaska and Wyoming (1977, 1978)

Publications

• A regular, monthly columnist for Vermont Sports Today since October, 1995. An occasional contributor to The Master Skier since February, 1993. An occasional contributor to New England Nordic News since summer, 1996
• “The Heart of an Olympian,” Dartmouth Medicine (Fall, 2003)
• Vermont Air, Best of the Vermont Public Radio Commentaries, contributing commentator, University Press of New England (2002)
• “Unforgiving Forests,” Dartmouth Medicine (Winter, 2000)
• The Essential Cross Country Skier, A Step-by-Step Guide, contributed a chapter on racing, Ragged Mountain Press (2000)
• “Drama on Denali,” Dartmouth Medicine (Winter, 1999)
• A Medal of Honor, a novel of the Winter Olympics, BookPartners Publishing (May, 1998), reprinted by Discover History (2005)
• “A Day on the Catamount Trail,” Catamount Trail News (Spring 1997)
• “John Caldwell’s Wild West Ski Tour,” The Vermont Outdoor Journal (April, 1996)
• “The Courage to Jump,” Middlebury College Magazine (Winter, 1996)
• “The Legacy of Annie Oakley,” Biathlon Bulletin, U.S.Biathlon Association (May/June 1995)
• “Is There Gold in the Future for U.S. Nordic Skiers?” Glide-News from Alpina XC (December 1994)
• “Notes from Lillehammer,” Wellspring Quarterly (Summer, 1994)
• “Now That the Lifts Have Stopped,” Masters Sports (May, 1994)
• “Cross-Country Conditioning: A Matter of Principles,” The Professional Skier (Spring, 1994)
• “Z Miloscia Od Polski (From Poland With Love),” The Valley News Sunday (January 16, 1994)
• “Nordic Skiing,” The Official CBS Viewer's Guide, Lillehammer '94 (Fall 1993)
• “Design a Nordic Ski Trail on Your Land,” Tree Farmer Magazine (Summer 1993)
• “Roller Screaming,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (February 1993)
• “America's Greatest Ski Race,” Birch Scroll (Pre-race issue 1993)
• “America's Greatest Ski Race,” Wisconsin Trails (February 1993)
• “What's New in Nordic in the Upper Valley,” Upper Valley Magazine (January/February ‘93)
• “Downhill Skiing: Why Runners Have No Edge,” Masters Sports (December 1992)
• “Cross-Country: The Oarsman's Edge,” Masters Sports (October 1992)
• “Snapshots From Les Saisies,” Atomic for Sport Newsletter (Fall 1992)
• “The Gathering of the Faithful,” Nordic West (Fall/Winter 1992-1993)
• “The Joys of Coaching,” Cross Country Skier (October 1992)
• Don't Look Back, a book about cross-country skiing published by Stackpole (January,1992)
• “Cross-Country, Biathlon, & Nordic Combined,” The Official CBS Olympic Viewer's Guide (Fall 1991)
• “Design a Nordic Ski Trail on Your Land,” Vermont Forest Quarterly (Winter 1992)
• “U.S. and Soviet Veterans Sound Taps to Their Wars,” Trilogy Magazine (May/June 1991)
• “A Soldier's Story,” Middlebury College Magazine (Summer 1990)
• “Bound Together,” Boston Globe Magazine (May 27, 1990)
• “Shaping Up for the Snow,” The Valley News (December 24, 1988)
• “Memories of the '76 Games,” Ski Racing (January 1988)
• “Summer Critical for Skiing Success,” The Valley News (June 30, 1988)
• “NY City Marathon,” Upper Valley Athletic Association Newsletter (December 1982)
• “Graphing Performance of Skiers,” Journal of the US Ski Coaches Association , (Aug., 1982) “Saunas,” Nordic Skiing, (February 1980)