About Us

Silent Sports was founded in 1984 to provide solid, reliable and timely regional information on cross country skiing, bicycling, running, paddle sports, multisports (triathlons, biathlons and duathlons), snowshoeing and other related activities we loosely define as "aerobic outdoor activities." Started by Greg Marr, Silent Sports was born of the frustration of trying to find regional information on these "silent" sports. National publications address regional needs sporadically at best and local sources newspapers and city magazine virtually ignore these activities and their growing number of participants.

Silent Sports was founded on the high level of participation of citizen and elite athletes found at many of the events hosted here in the Midwest events like the American Birkebeiner (North America's largest cross country ski race); the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival (the nation's largest off-road race/festival; the Grandview Firehouse 50 (one of the largest citizen bike races in the U.S.; the WORS Series, a mountain bike race series that draws well over 7,000 riders each year; prestigious marathons like Chicago, Twin Cities and Grandma's; and the North Shore Inline Marathon, the largest of its kind in the country. Events like these, and the thousands of smaller events, were the catalyst behind the start of Silent Sports.

With all these events listed annually in the extensive Silent Sports Calendar of Events section, the magazine has filled a need for thousands of people who devote much of their free time to the "silent sports." Yet Silent Sports is much more than a vehicle to provide race information:

We follow the seasons, giving you complete regional coverage. We tell you the best places to go to enjoy your activities, and whom to see when you get there. We feature the silent sports people and places in the upper Midwest.
News: If it affects the silent sports, we'll cover it. From trail acquisition to regulations regarding mountain bike use, we'll dig up the information.
Fun: While we can be serious, Silent Sports will often take a light-hearted approach. We've covered the latest in nerd bicycling and exposed the minds of farm dogs.

Our staff consists of our editor, Joel Patenaude, regular columnists Mitch Mode (Cross Country Skiing), Doug Shidell and Mark Parman (Bicycling), Bill Baldus and Tom Kaufman (Running), Bill Hauda (Health/Fitness), Mike Svob, Donna Kallner and Cliff Jacobson (Paddle Sports), Donna Marlor (Nutrition), Bob Richards (Illinois); and Jim Wendt, Advertising Manager. All our columnists are active in a variety of silent sports and experts in their fields; each is a frequent contributor to other local, regional and national publications. Several have written books on their areas of expertise. Frequent contributors include noted writers like Jerry Dennis and Jim DuFresne.

Our first issue hit the stands in 1984 with 48 pages; recent issues have checked in at nearly double the size of that first one today we average more than 76 pages each month. Yet even with a bigger magazine, everything we write about is still right here where you live and where we live.

The print version of Silent Sports is not a fancy, slick, glossy magazine don't expect any swimsuit issues but it is the source for information on your favorite activities in your part of the country. We give you information you can use to help you get more out of the activities you participate in.

Silent Sports continues to grow in large part because it offers a sense of family and community to its readers in the Midwest a feeling not often found in mass market publications. We have filled a niche by providing information on a local-regional basis through a magazine that has become a part of the lives of its readers.

With our web site, we can now serve an even larger audience. We hope you enjoy this online peek at the pages of Silent Sports; to obtain a print copy, click here.

Silent Sports is owned by the Waupaca Publishing Company of Waupaca, WI., a second-generation, family-owned and operated business. The publisher is Scott Turner.