Ryan: my life has been substantially enhanced by my experiences with Ironman through the years. Some of my and my family’s most cherished experiences have revolved around the 30+ Ironman branded races that I and my son have participated in through the years including 4 wonderful trips to Kona. It has been a very positive force in my life that has helped me to lead a healthy, productive and happy life.
I’ve also had the privilege of getting to know many of the WTC employees personally and have been consistently impressed by their passion for our sport, their pride in their company and what they do, and the quality of the service that they have generally provided. While, I don’t know him well, in the several interactions I’ve had with Andrew, he has struck me as a reasonable business man who listens and understands the passion that we all have for this great sport. I also thought he was dealt an almost impossible hand with CoVid and he has admirably guided his company through this tough time and they have continued to put on many incredible events.
Further, I’ve frequently thought that many of the criticisms leveled against the company here on slowtwitch seemed unbalanced and on some occasions were based on a foundation of incomplete facts and a poor understanding of how capitalism, larger businesses, and the investment community work. Many Ironman haters view the company through a set point of view and will always find fault and infrequently find merit.
That said, what has happened with this situation seems like a set of extremely poor and in some cases unnecessary business decisions that have alienated a large part of the Ironman ecosystem including Kona residents, many loyal volunteers through the years that are now very upset, and many Pro and Age Group athletes that make their business possible. This may very well be a existential crisis for the company that they will either learn from and pivot to a brighter future or will be an inflection point that will not allow them to continue to be the company they aspire to be. There are many alternative entities that are for sure plotting how to make the later happen. I also think the Board must be taking notice of this and discussing if they need to intervene in a major way.
What really puzzles me is why ST, which has always been, in my view, the pinnacle of rationality, seems to be jumping in front of this nightmare train for no apparent reason. WTC has really made a mess of this. A very large number of ST’s loyal constituents have expressed outrage over how this has unfolded over the last two-three years, and not just the haters, but it seems that ST has circled the wagons and is now reflexively defensive, when I would have expected ST to continue its long history of balanced objectivity. I worry that ST is following down the same alienating path that Ironman is currently on. There is a lot of legitimate negativity here that doesn’t seem like it’s being addressed well by either IM or ST…
Having said all of this, I recognize that I have neither the facts, experience nor industry relationships that you all have. (And as an aside, I had my knee replaced yesterday and my brain is probably scrambled a bit by the pain and meds). But I find this all quite puzzling.
My apologies if my comments are unfair or misinformed. They are intended as respectful thoughts about two organizations I have admired deeply…
Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com
Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.
I’ve also had the privilege of getting to know many of the WTC employees personally and have been consistently impressed by their passion for our sport, their pride in their company and what they do, and the quality of the service that they have generally provided. While, I don’t know him well, in the several interactions I’ve had with Andrew, he has struck me as a reasonable business man who listens and understands the passion that we all have for this great sport. I also thought he was dealt an almost impossible hand with CoVid and he has admirably guided his company through this tough time and they have continued to put on many incredible events.
Further, I’ve frequently thought that many of the criticisms leveled against the company here on slowtwitch seemed unbalanced and on some occasions were based on a foundation of incomplete facts and a poor understanding of how capitalism, larger businesses, and the investment community work. Many Ironman haters view the company through a set point of view and will always find fault and infrequently find merit.
That said, what has happened with this situation seems like a set of extremely poor and in some cases unnecessary business decisions that have alienated a large part of the Ironman ecosystem including Kona residents, many loyal volunteers through the years that are now very upset, and many Pro and Age Group athletes that make their business possible. This may very well be a existential crisis for the company that they will either learn from and pivot to a brighter future or will be an inflection point that will not allow them to continue to be the company they aspire to be. There are many alternative entities that are for sure plotting how to make the later happen. I also think the Board must be taking notice of this and discussing if they need to intervene in a major way.
What really puzzles me is why ST, which has always been, in my view, the pinnacle of rationality, seems to be jumping in front of this nightmare train for no apparent reason. WTC has really made a mess of this. A very large number of ST’s loyal constituents have expressed outrage over how this has unfolded over the last two-three years, and not just the haters, but it seems that ST has circled the wagons and is now reflexively defensive, when I would have expected ST to continue its long history of balanced objectivity. I worry that ST is following down the same alienating path that Ironman is currently on. There is a lot of legitimate negativity here that doesn’t seem like it’s being addressed well by either IM or ST…
Having said all of this, I recognize that I have neither the facts, experience nor industry relationships that you all have. (And as an aside, I had my knee replaced yesterday and my brain is probably scrambled a bit by the pain and meds). But I find this all quite puzzling.
My apologies if my comments are unfair or misinformed. They are intended as respectful thoughts about two organizations I have admired deeply…
Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com
Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.