Interesting!
I'm a little surprised to see an outsider take the role, not a VP in waiting somewhere in the Ironman organization.
Also Interesting he comes from a fitness center background. I'm curious if we'll see some tighter gym associations with Ironman in the future. If they are hoping to grow their customer base, that's probably the best clientele to pick -- people already committed or addicted to paying to exercise.
But I wonder if the fact that he's a big runner has more to say about the future of Ironman (ie UTMB etc race development).
Regarding the covid stuff, the guy was managing a business which was being shut down due to panic over spreading covid. I don't blame anyone for panicking about covid, but as we've seen the widespread vaccination campaigns didn't really have the effect the smart people all group-thought. (Ie, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan cases skyrocketed ad soon as a largely vaccinated population opened up). So his shot policy was due to misunderstanding about the vaccines capabilities (some might say misinformation).
Even knowing what we know now, the socio political situation still wasn't exactly easy. I'm sure global gyms like this were ready to bend the knee and kiss any rings necessary to open up and avoid closure. Hard to really fault people for not taking a futile stand with investor money.
I do smile and tremble a little at the people who think the lessons to learn from the pandemic is to just be even more totalitarian and do it even faster as well next time. More was done than ever before in mankind's history, the global economy is still reeling. Workforce and productivity damaged for a likely generation. Supply chains overloaded and fractured or broken. Countless health and mental health affects. And some people think we just next to do more of the same but harder and faster "next time".
Hopefully DeRue isn't that sort, but if he is he's in good company.
I'm a little surprised to see an outsider take the role, not a VP in waiting somewhere in the Ironman organization.
Also Interesting he comes from a fitness center background. I'm curious if we'll see some tighter gym associations with Ironman in the future. If they are hoping to grow their customer base, that's probably the best clientele to pick -- people already committed or addicted to paying to exercise.
But I wonder if the fact that he's a big runner has more to say about the future of Ironman (ie UTMB etc race development).
Regarding the covid stuff, the guy was managing a business which was being shut down due to panic over spreading covid. I don't blame anyone for panicking about covid, but as we've seen the widespread vaccination campaigns didn't really have the effect the smart people all group-thought. (Ie, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan cases skyrocketed ad soon as a largely vaccinated population opened up). So his shot policy was due to misunderstanding about the vaccines capabilities (some might say misinformation).
Even knowing what we know now, the socio political situation still wasn't exactly easy. I'm sure global gyms like this were ready to bend the knee and kiss any rings necessary to open up and avoid closure. Hard to really fault people for not taking a futile stand with investor money.
I do smile and tremble a little at the people who think the lessons to learn from the pandemic is to just be even more totalitarian and do it even faster as well next time. More was done than ever before in mankind's history, the global economy is still reeling. Workforce and productivity damaged for a likely generation. Supply chains overloaded and fractured or broken. Countless health and mental health affects. And some people think we just next to do more of the same but harder and faster "next time".
Hopefully DeRue isn't that sort, but if he is he's in good company.