Page 10 - June_2014

VERMONT store for athletes this spring and summer stray dogs on the course, for example.
QSPORTS
accompanies this story on these pages.)
This past year, we had a nurse go out

Vermont Sports talked with White about a half-hour ahead of the run and
about his transition from attorney to acted as the magnet for any dogs that
race organizer, the upcoming spread of were out on the road. She made sure the
races this spring, and what makes Ver- owners put them back in the house.
mont – specifically the Northeast King- The trial work helped me visualize the A
dom – a top destination for racing.
whole and be patient in working with

the individual pieces as I was building an
VS: What made you decide to keep the event. That means that if I know I have
events series going after IROC folded X-number of support boats out on the
this past year? lake, I know we can handle Y-number of and
PW: Well, I love them. Some of them swimmers and no more. Then again, it
couldn’t happen without a community,
are recognized as world-class events
and I had invested a lot of my time to which has really rallied in support of the
build them up. I think it’s good to rein- races. You can’t do it alone. You have to
vent yourself every now and then and have good, solid support.

I figured for the next phase of my life, VS: You’ve got a very busy calendar A CONVERSATION
it would be a great investment. It cer-
tainly has risk associated with it, which ahead of you for this coming race sea- WITH PHIL WHITE
I think is a good thing. They’re great son. Could you describe your work
schedule leading up to the starting gun? after operating for seven years, it ap-
events and the community of support How far in advance are you working? peared that the popular spring and sum-
for them is significant. I was testing the By Evan Johnson, mer events usually scheduled through
support when I held the events this sum- PW: The planning starts the minute an Photos courtesy of Phil White
IROC would be canceled as well.
mer and I found that for every sponsor event ends and I like to know before But White stepped in to keep the races
or volunteer that I lost, I gained two an event ends, what the date for next
year will be. We’re working year-round. DERBY — Phil White is a busy man. running under his new company, King-
more. It appreciated the value of the Winter was supposed to be my slow As the director of Kingdom Games LLC, dom Games. Since then, the well-orga-
games and there was no way we could he has organized 38 days of activities nized event series has earned praise from
not keep holding them.
time, but this past winter we ended up covering 1,450 miles of running, biking, athletes and media groups alike. Yankee
doing a Santa Run as part of the Christ- swimming and triathlon courses in Ver- Magazine selected the Dandelion Run as
mas festival in downtown Newport. I mont’s scenic Northeast Kingdom.
one of the 20 best races in New England
VS: Did you have much experience or- thought we’d get 10 Santas, but we end-
ganizing and holding events like this A lifelong swimmer, White, 65, be- and Open Water Swimming Magazine
before? Did you have any help? ed up with 82. The next thing I knew, I came involved in outdoor events in the has featured his events prominently. Ver-
PW: [Laughs] I thought we’d have may- got involved with doing a pond hockey NEK when he signed on as chairman of mont Sports readers selected the Dande-
be 10 people swim the lake for the first tournament and then Nordic skating. the board of the former Indoor Recre- lion Run as one of the five most scenic
Those were all low-key and with small ation of Orleans County (IROC). When races in the state. (A list of what the
year of Kingdom Swim, but I stumbled the facility closed its doors this past year
2014 Kingdom Games schedule has in
into Ned Dennison, from Cork, Ireland, numbers to test the waters whether they
who lives in Vermont. He trains open would be good events, but they were
water swimmers to cross the English great. Those kinds of things happen
spontaneously, but now they’re in the
Channel and I also linked up with Les- system.
lie Thomas, from San Francisco, who
organizes and hosts swims in the San I keep a file on each event with each
Francisco Bay, including an Alcatraz of the different partners, volunteers and
contacts I have to make with each event.
swim. I think they took pity on me be- Computers are wonderful things as long
cause they knew I was determined to as they’re working. I had my computer
do these events and if they didn’t help crash the night before the Dandelion
me, I could probably kill some people
because I didn’t know what I was doing.
Run last year, which was a scramble. But
email has been a real lifesaver instead of
As a result, they gave me a lot of in- playing telephone tag. It’s a lot, but it’s a
formation in a very short period of time fulltime job. That’s why I knew if I was
as to how to run a safe, well-supported going to do this, I really needed to do
swim. That helped me plot out the first
courses of Kingdom Swim. We set up it as a fulltime commitment in the next
websites for the events and the first year phase of my life. I’m doing probably
half a day to a day per week of practic-
we had 100 swimmers. The next year we ing law. As the games grow, eventually
had 200, including an 11-year-old from I’d like to see a lieutenant involved with
Mumbai, India. I’ve never been afraid to running each of the events because it’s
ask for help and I’ve never been afraid to
listen to what people have to say about getting too big for one person to be run-
ning every part of the events.
what works and what doesn’t.
VS: What was it that originally drew
VS: You entered the field after a career you to the outdoor event lifestyle in the In partnership with:
practicing law. Did your experience as
an attorney help you in any way when Northeast Kingdom? Is there any other
previous involvement in athletics or or-
you began organizing races?
ganizing that compelled you?
Old StOne HOuSe
PW: When you’re preparing a trial, you PW: I run two miles every day. I used
have to present your case through wit-
nesses and you have to prepare. It’s time to swim with flippers, ditched them two
years ago and have set a goal of swim- With support from:
consuming and you have to be very pa- ming 1 to 3 miles this year in the open
tient as you’re building your presenta- water. I have a slot in the 2018 Boston
tion. But you also have to visualize how Light Swim, an 8-mile ocean swim.
that’s going to play-out when you put
the pieces together.
That’s my swimming goal. And I love
to downhill ski. Jay is my mountain,
When you’re sitting there planning, although I have spent winters at Mad
you start foreseeing problems – like

10 VTSPORTS.COM
JUNE 2014