House of Sport
The Middaugh household might be the most competitive in off-road endurance sports history. Josiah Middaugh, 45-year-old off-road triathlete, snowshoer, trail runner, and father, is one of the most accomplished multidisciplinary outdoor athletes in the world. His career accomplishments (which are still accumulating year after year) include fifteen- time XTERRA USA National Champion, six-time USSSA National Snowshoe Champion, five-time Fat Bike World Champion, ten-time GoPro Mountain Games Ultimately Mountain Challenge Champion, two-time USAT Winter Triathlon National Champion, and 2015 XTERRA World Champion.
Josiah’s two sons, Porter and Sullivan Middaugh, aged 18 and 20, respectively, are following in their father’s footsteps and are well on their way to achieving as much or more than their father, who has set a high bar of excellence in sport. Before learning of Porter and Sullivan’s accomplishments, I would have said Josiah’s records would stand the test of time, but now I’m not so certain. One thing is for sure, however, the Middaugh name will continue to dominate off-road endurance sports for many more years to come.
Variety is the Spice of Sport
Unlike some childhood sports prodigies who specialize in particular sports of their parent’s choosing at an early age, Josiah wanted to make sure his sons had the freedom to explore a variety of athletic interests. Josiah opted for a “hands-off” parenting approach that he has since encouraged in coaching and sports academic circles. Josiah shares his insights on his parenting approach, “Porter and Sullivan played a variety of sports growing up and just had fun with neighborhood kids and classmates. They never did any year-round club teams and mostly participated in seasonal school sports. I actually wrote a paper in 2011 about Sport Sampling and Late Specialization as an alternative path to achieving expertise in sports and presented on the topic at this year’s Endurance Exchange. Their sports careers were never by design, more about my wife and I just trying to raise happy, respectful, and kind human beings. They definitely showed some aptitude for endurance sports, but their level of commitment was up to them, and I stayed out of their coaching for the most part. One point our family agrees on is that any natural talent in running comes from their mother.”
Ingrid Middaugh, Josiah’s wife, was a varsity track and cross-country athlete at Central Michigan University. Porter and Sullivan certainly have no shortage of athletic talent in their genes.
Sullivan describes what it was like growing up in the Middaugh household and the role sports played early in his life, “I think most of my childhood I was just having fun with sports. My brother, neighborhood friends and myself would race in the backyard on foot or on bikes. I remember from a very early age doing the local mountain bike and trail run series in the summer, then snowshoe races in the winter. I always looked forward to these and enjoyed being competitive.”
Living in Colorado’s Vail Valley, Sullivan, Porter, and Josiah all naturally learned to adopt the idea of being “seasonal athletes” capable of participating in both winter and summer sports. This contributed greatly to their variety of sports interests. Josiah expands on how his training environment, and that of his sons, contributed to their development as athletes, “I like to consider myself a multisport athlete of all seasons. I like adverse conditions, and the winter actually has more cross-training opportunities, which keeps it interesting and lowers the impact. I like to do some skate skiing, fat biking, and snowshoeing to get me off the indoor bike trainer and replace some of my run training. My enjoyment goes up the more sports I can put together.” Porter similarly agrees with his father, “The more sports I’m doing, the better! My body always responds better to a mix of athletic challenges as opposed to just practicing one sport.”
One Roof, Two National Champions
Toeing the line for the 2022 XTERRA National Championships, there was only one competitor that could challenge Josiah, who had already achieved fifteen wins at this event…Sullivan! Sullivan found success competing in XTERRA junior championships and felt ready in 2022 to compete in his first race against professionals at only age eighteen. While Sullivan says that the rivalry with his dad is nothing too extreme, he also recalls clearly the first time he beat his father in a race, the 2021 Winter GoPro Mountain Games Snowshoe 10K, “We ran together for a majority of the race until a little over a mile to go when I made a move and was able to hold him off until the finish.” This snowshoe race was an impressive win for Sullivan, but beating his dad at an XTERRA National Championship in his first professional race would be something completely different.
The race played out like a dramatic movie plot, son leading the field followed closely by his father. Sullivan began to build a gap, which Josiah later recalls was no surprise, knowing that Sullivan’s fitness in swimming, mountain biking, and trail running were all superior to his own. Sullivan kept pushing the pace, always expecting he might look back and see his father barrelling down the trail to catch him. Sullivan held on to the win, beating his father, who finished second, by nearly a minute. He describes his first national championship win, “This moment was pretty unbelievable for me and such an amazing experience to be racing at a high level and being on the start line together as father and son. It is something that doesn’t happen very often in sport to compete with your dad, so that was pretty cool.”
In 2023, Sullivan went on to defend his title in what would have likely been a rematch with his father, though Josiah was unfortunately sidelined with a foot injury. In spite of Josiah’s many podiums and success, injuries are something he knows all too well and hopes to steer his sons away from, “I have had five knee surgeries over the years and most recently broke my foot in 2023 while sprinting into the ocean with Sullivan and Porter while on vacation. I had surgery last August with a plate and pins in my fifth metatarsal. I think injuries are a part of sport, and despite the setbacks, I actually consider myself fairly durable and have learned to manage the setbacks. I try to stay focused on the things I can do rather than the things I can’t.” Injuries aside, Josiah hopes to have many more years ahead of him to challenge Sullivan and Porter and, who knows, maybe add yet another XTERRA national title to his resume.
Brotherly Rivals
Sullivan may already be a two-time XTERRA national champion by age 20, but his brother Porter’s achievements are equally impressive. Porter was named the 2024 Colorado Gatorade cross country athlete of the year. Porter also placed fourth at the International U18 Mountain Running Cup in Saluzzo, Italy.
The two brothers have raced each other countless times growing up together, including perhaps the most memorable finish in National High School Trail Championship (NHSTC) history when Sullivan held off a finishing dive from Porter to secure his title as the 2021 National High School Trail Champion. (and defend his title from 2020). Porter describes the competitiveness with his brother, “Growing up together, we were competitive with each other all the time. It wouldn’t get heated, but we’d have times when one of us was better than the other or training more, and that pushed us to be our best. It’s been great to have him not just as a brother but the ideal training partner.”
In addition to Sullivan, Porter has also been lucky to have had another incredible training partner and friendly rival on his Battle Mountain High School track and cross country teams, Will Brunner, 2022 National High School Trail Champion and Colorado 4A State Cross Country Champion. Porter describes his relationship with his teammate and how, similar to his brother and father, Brunner has helped him achieve the best version of himself, “I’ve been lucky to have Will as a training buddy, and my Battle Mountain High School team as a whole has a strong running culture. Many kids work hard and enjoy the sport, and it’s been amazing to be a part of that”
The running success of Battle Mountain High, for a small school with less than 1,000 enrolled students, is quite extraordinary. Josiah remarks on the training environment the high school has provided to his sons, “Rob Parish, the Battle Mountain High School coach has consistently churned out great high school teams. He has a very sound, progressive, and meticulous approach to running and interestingly they probably spend more time running on trails than any other school in the state. Their summer mileage is almost exclusively on high altitude trails. I have always supported the teams they have been on and my primary role has just been as a supportive parent.”
Future Podiums
Porter and Sullivan’s careers as athletes are looking bright into the future. Sullivan, now in his first year of college, has been an athlete in the USA Triathlon Project Podium development team at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. The program is designed “to further develop top young male USA Triathlon Elite athletes and help them achieve medal performances in the Olympic Games.” Sullivan speaks on his development as an athlete in the past year participating in this program, “Project Podium was a perfect fit for me post high school. I struggled with injury throughout high school and spent a lot of time cross-training. Triathlon is the perfect balance for me because it allows me to ‘cross-train’ as my main sport. Project Podium has a focus on the Olympic event which is road draft legal racing. I enjoy this format a lot because it is fairly new to me and has been a learning experience so far.”
Although Project Podium specializes in road triathlons, Sullivan is still far from being a “specialized athlete” in a particular sport. Sullivan speaks of his desire to continue his XTERRA, trail racing and other off-road racing, “XTERRA is very important to allow me to get back on the trails and enjoy my passion for mountain biking and trail running. I think there is a lot of crossover between XTERRA and Road triathlon where many road athletes have come to XTERRA and had great finishes and vice versa (Ex: Hayden Wilde and Flora Duffy). So I do not feel a need to specialize, especially when I am still developing as an athlete. I plan to race three XTERRAs in 2024 along with many draft legal road races.”
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree…and the Apples Don’t Fall Far From Each Other
Sullivan has found his place in the USA Triathlon, and Porter is set to follow the same path. While Porter’s impressive running achievements have led him to ponder the possibility of competing in track and cross country as a collegiate athlete, he has opted to follow his brother into Project Podium after he graduates high school this upcoming spring. Porter, like both Sullivan and his father, are multisport athletes at heart. Porter speaks on his decision, “I’m excited to join Project Podium and it’s a really unique program that suits athletes. I’ll be able to take online classes while planning my day according to my workouts. I’ll have more flexibility than I’ve ever had training and I’m excited to see where that takes my athletic career.” The program bases its athletes out of Tempe, AZ, in the winter and Park City, UT, in the summer, seeking ideal training conditions to develop the top athletes in the sport.
While Porter and Sullivan’s athletic careers are taking center stage, their father also recognizes the importance of being in a program such as Project Podium, where his sons are able to pursue academics at the same time as an athletic career. Josiah speaks on the balance between professional racing and academics in his own career, “I never really went ‘all in’ with professional racing. For most of my career, I worked as a personal trainer, and now more of my focus is on my coaching business. Some years I earned a higher portion from prize money and sponsorship, but I have never made a living exclusively from racing. Academics are very important to me, with a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science and a Masters’s Degree in Kinesiology. In 2010 I had just had knee surgery on my IT band, Ingrid was pregnant with our third child (Larsen) so I decided to go back to school and earn a master’s degree.”
Like her older brothers, Larsen Middaugh is a multisport athlete who participates in Nordic skiing, swimming, and snowboarding. Unlike her brothers, however, she enjoys keeping her sport focus more recreational. She enjoys a variety of sports and training with friends, but endurance competitions don’t take priority in her life as they do for her brothers.
Gold Medal Family Affair
One of the main athletic goals for the Middaugh family in 2024 is qualifying for the XTERRA World Championship in Trentino, Italy on September 26 to 29. Josiah speaks on several of his racing goals, including this event, “This year, I actually plan to dabble with a couple of Ironman 70.3 races and a few of the XTERRA World Cup events, including the XTERRA World Championship in Italy. Hopefully, it will be a family affair, and we can all make it to the start line in Italy.
Sullivan, similar to his father, is ready to chase gold in both road triathlons and the XTERRA World Championships in Italy, “2024 will be my first year in the U23 age division, which is a big step up in the level of competition. I will be competing in more Olympic distance draft legal races, which I have not done yet. This year, I want to gain experience in competitive races. I am not putting a lot of pressure on myself to try and qualify for the U23 world championships, but it will definitely be on my mind.”
Josiah may have set a high standard of athletics for his sons, but his support of their careers has given them the resources and positive mentorship they need to follow in his footsteps and beyond. Healthy family competition and encouragement have pushed the Middaugh family athletes to a level of excellence in sport that few families achieve or, most importantly, get to share and celebrate with one another. With Sullivan already training as a professional athlete and Porter not far behind, it’s exciting to think that there’s a real possibility the professional off-road endurance world may soon see all three Middaughs standing on the same championship podium.
