Dan Simoneau

Dan Simoneau grew up skiing in Livermore Falls and got involved in competition at an early age winning skimeister honors in the Maine Junior League in 1973. In that event he won both the cross country title and the slalom title. Later he focused on cross country and competed both on his high school team and in Eastern Races. He won the Maine High School Cross Country championship in 1975 and 1976, and in 1977 was New England High School Cross Country Ski Champion. Simoneau was having similar success in Eastern racing qualifying for the Junior National in 1975 and 1976. In 1975 in Ishpeming, Michigan he finished 3rd in the 10K and 5th in the 7.5K. On his second trip to the Nationals he won the 7.5K and finished second in the 10K.

This success earned entry into The US National XC Championships where he won the Junior 10K and 20K in 1978 and repeated in the 20K and won silver in the 10K the next year. Dan didn’t sacrifice in his studies while training and competing, named in 1977 by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame as Scholar Athlete of the Year. In 1977, 1978 and 1979 he represented the US in World Junior Championships.

Following his junior career the Livermore skier continued with the US Ski Team which he had joined in 1975 and skied for until 1989. He skied for his country in the Olympics in 1980, 1984 and 1988 and the World Championships in 1982, 1985 and 1987. Throughout his 14 years on the US Team he was one of the top skiers as shown by his record in National Championships, Olympic Trials and other events in the US and North America. For most of his years on the team Simmy’s teammate Bill Koch was one of the World’s top XC skiers and own more than his share of US crowns, but through those years the Maine skier shared many of those podiums with Koch and he was seldom out of the top five.

The 1982 season was a big year for both Koch and Simoneau. Koch became the first American to win a World Cup Cross Country race in Europe and in Falun, Sweden, he and S i m o n e a u finished onetwo in a World Cup race. S i m o n e a u finished 7th that year in the overall World Cup XC standings. Only Koch’s win was higher for an American.

In 1988, Simoneau won his second straight US National 30K title, dominated the Olympic trials with first place in the Overall, 30K, 15K and 10K and went on to compete in the Olympics.

In addition to competing Dan also served on the Board of Directors of the Us Ski Association and Us Skiing Foundation from 1985 to 1994. After his racing career he worked with Fischer skis and has continued skiing. For devoting a lifetime to the sport of skiing and achieving at the highest levels, Dan Simoneau has earned his place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame. Ski