Snowshoe Magazine is proud to recognize Dr. Jeff Kildahl as the recipient of the Cindy Brochman Person of the Year Award, honoring individuals who inspire, champion, and elevate the snowshoe community.
This award, named for the late Cindy Brochman, celebrates the spirit of courage, generosity, and dedication to the sport. Each year it is presented to someone who embodies Cindy’s legacy — and few fit that description more than Jeff, whose work as an athlete, consultant, researcher, publisher, and supporter has shaped the snowshoe and endurance community for decades.
A Longtime Supporter Turned Honoree
For years, Jeff and his company, Performance Medicine™, have been supporters of this award. His vision of helping athletes achieve their fullest potential aligned perfectly with Cindy’s commitment to lifting others up. Now, the recognition comes full circle as Jeff himself is honored for his impact.
Jeff’s groundbreaking work in Performance Medicine™ has introduced a paradigm shift in sport and health. Rather than focusing only on training, diet, or strategy, he digs deeper — down to the cellular level — to identify hidden gaps in an athlete’s system. These might be deficiencies in vitamin D3, B12, mitochondria, or support in critical areas such as sleep, stress, supplementation, and blood analysis, even the fittest athletes overlook. By addressing those insidious elements, Jeff helps athletes of every level improve their health, performance, and longevity.
As Jeff puts it, “Performance Medicine™ represents a bold paradigm uniquely positioned to genetically optimize health, performance, and longevity in life and sport — because both begin and end at the cellular level.”
Life-Changing Turns
Jeff’s story took a dramatic turn in the summer of 2024. While running on a rural Pennsylvania trail, he exited the thicket at the same moment as a pickup truck. The collision flung him to the side of the road, leaving him with catastrophic injuries. The precision of the impact was impeccable.
When I caught up with Jeff later that year, we spoke for nearly 20 minutes before I even realized his speech was different — slower. Only then did he share that he had been bedridden for months. What struck me wasn’t just the seriousness of his recovery, but how unimaginable that must have been for Jeff — someone so driven, so accustomed to training, racing, and pushing boundaries. For him, being forced to stay still was surely its own kind of challenge.
Yet Jeff quickly shifted back to humor, retelling a story that had us both laughing. He described the early days of snowshoeing, when he and his friends strapped on those oversized, racquet-looking snowshoes and raced anyway — even brushing shoulders with the après-ski crew in Deer Valley. The image of Jeff grinning as he recalled this ragtag group of snowshoe rebels reminded me of what has always defined him: grit, humor, and an authentic love for the sport.
From One Person of the Year to Another
Few people know Jeff as well as Phillip Gary Smith, Senior Writer for Snowshoe Magazine and a past Cindy Brochman Person of the Year himself. Phillip has admired Jeff for years, not only for his writing but also for his ability to live the principles he teaches. He describes Jeff’s work in Performance Medicine™ as “a kind of revolution in sport,” one that helps athletes uncover and address gaps in their health and performance that often go unseen.
As a self-described back-of-the-pack runner, Phillip experienced this firsthand when Jeff helped him identify deficiencies in vitamin D3 and B12. Correcting them gave him both better health and a deeper appreciation for the details that drive performance. For Phillip, Jeff is not only a colleague and friend but also a model of generosity, discipline, and quiet philanthropy whose support for athletes and associations often goes unseen.
Carrying Forward Cindy’s Spirit
Cindy Brochman, for whom this award is named, was herself the very first recipient in 2007. Just two years later, in 2009, the snowshoe community lost her to cancer — but her courage and spirit have lived on through every honoree since. Jeff’s resilience and relentless pursuit of human potential mirror Cindy’s legacy, making him a fitting choice for this year’s award.
Snowshoe Magazine congratulates Dr. Jeff Kildahl on this well-deserved recognition and thanks him for his enduring contributions to sport, science, and community.
What’s Next
Today’s recognition is just the beginning of a larger story — one of recovery, resilience, and renewal. To bring this story to life, we asked Dr. Kildahl to share more in his own words.
1. Jeff, after your accident, you had to apply your own philosophy of Performance Medicine™ to your recovery. What did you learn about yourself through that process?
A few years prior to my meeting with a vehicle I dropped to my knees on a walk with my wife. I awoke in a hospital bed with numerous electrodes affixed and flanked by diagnostic devices. Several months later I received the green light to resume a normal life – whatever that meant.
It became crystal clear that one who focused on health, nutrition, and fitness was not exempt from shit happening – even triathlon legends Dave Scott [“The Man”], Greg Welch and other endurance athletes suffered heart-related issues.
The causation was never pinpointed after countless tests. Cardiologists were baffled thanks to decades of ultra-endurance endeavors and my lifestyle. It was deemed plausible that the anomaly could be due to a congenital defect. “Why now?” became the question.
I was 18 ounces at birth and not expected to live more than a few hours.
My stubborn Scandinavian verve apparently had different intentions.
Both events provided an opportunity to catalyze inexhaustible analysis of my products/services ecosystem in the sphere of connecting seemingly disparate elements. The key is to master the difference between effort and struggle from the inside out.
The relationship among blood analysis, heart rate variability, mitochondrial efficiency, biological age, and genomic sequencing in health, performance, and longevity is unequivocal. These modalities will decipher insidious saboteurs of optimization. Synergy is the lynchpin.
We have the technology to eliminate guesswork, decode superhuman, and propel limitless potential.
2. What does receiving the Cindy Brochman Person of the Year Award mean to you, especially given your history of supporting it?
Blown away!
Receiving the 2024 Cindy Brochman Person of the Year Award is truly an inexpressible honor. Feeling humbled and privileged…
The award epitomizes Cindy Brochman. It defines her radiant personality, tenacity, athletic prowess, compassion, infectious smile, boundless energy, and effervescence culminating her ineffable zeal for life.
3. You’ve been a champion for athletes at every level — from podium finishers to those just starting out. Why has community support always been such an important part of your journey?
Being fit but unhealthy is a recurring theme. Performance optimization cannot occur without first enhancing health. Lifestyle must match chronotype. This is applicable to elite and age-group endurance athletes.
I have never met an endurance athlete who did not want to improve his/her performance. It has been my experience that most endurance athletes require support but do not realize it – no matter his/her fitness level.
Being an endurance athlete is a privilege – whether dirt or snow-covered trails. Understanding the sanctity of our niche is the key to fostering innovation, growth, resilience, and camaraderie.
Community support becomes a conduit to limitless opportunities.
4. You shared that story about the old “racquet-looking snowshoes.” What do those early memories of the sport teach us about where snowshoeing has come — and where it’s going?
Growth has no endpoint.
The early models taught me invaluable lessons about myself and kicked my ass too many times to count. Mother Nature often coupled blinding snow and fierce wind blasts in sub-zero temperatures to offset the typical idyllic conditions in the Rocky Mountains.
Leadville, CO became the snowshoeing hub in the ‘90s thanks to the high-performance design engineering innovation of Bill Perkins [aka Snowshoe Willie]. Lynn Cariffe propelled Redfeather Snowshoes utilizing his sleek design before it hit the mainstream.
“The Leadville Legend” Tom Sobal routinely tested the new snowshoe design on his runs around Turquoise Lake, 100-mile excursions, and countless races.
The current high-tech snowshoe design landscape is an exciting example of limitless growth.
I look forward to “sport snowshoeing” becoming an Olympic sport. This recognition is long overdue.
5. What’s next for you personally, and for Performance Medicine™, as you continue to recover and return to the trail?
→ Launch a book series;
→ Boldly ignite unparalleled health, performance, and longevity via Performance Medicine™ ;
→ Deliver incisive, cutting-edge, and eclectic content via SYNERGY™ Magazine;
→ Resurrect solo ultra-endurance endeavors with a charitable component;
→ Propel the art of snowshoeing/sandshoeing via USSSA, WSSF, and Snowshoe Magazine
Call for 2025 Nominations
Do you know someone who embodies the same courage, championship, and generosity that Cindy Brochman lived every day? Snowshoe Magazine is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Cindy Brochman Person of the Year Award.
Nominate an athlete, volunteer, organizer, or advocate who inspires others and uplifts the snowshoe community. Submissions can be made at snowshoemag.com/brochman-award through November 15, 2025.
Help us honor the next champion who will carry Cindy’s spirit forward.
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