Scott DeRue, the relatively new CEO of The IRONMAN Group, was a welcome visitor at Challenge Roth at the weekend.
He was invited to what is the biggest full-distance triathlon outside the IRONMAN World Championship by race director Felix Walchshöfer.
Walchshöfer has overseen the incredible success of Roth since taking over from his father when just 24 years old and the event now sells out within a minute each year while in terms of the professionals it has seen multiple world record times in recent years.
Mutual respect
DeRue too has been widely praised since taking over as CEO at The IRONMAN Group at the start of 2024 and earlier this year he announced that both the men’s and women’s IRONMAN World Championships would revert to being held on the same day in their spiritual home of Kona.
He posted on his social channels at the weekend: “Honored to hang out with the @challengeroth family this weekend. #triathlon”
And speaking on the live broadcast on Sunday when chatting to Belinda Granger and Sebi Kienle, Walchshöfer explained how the get-together came about: “Well it was quite remarkable. When Scott DeRue got into power he dropped me an email and said ‘hey everyone said that I should give you a call and would you like to talk to me?’
“I said yes, sure. And so we talked for at least an hour and then he said I know that you’ve been to Hawaii about 15 times and we would like to invite you.
“And I said look, none of you ever came to Roth after we started so I would love to invite you and if you come to Roth, I’ll definitely go to Hawaii again. And he kept his promise and he had such a wonderful gift for us yesterday.”
Roth NOT up for sale!
Walchshöfer revealed that it wasn’t just IRONMAN who were in town over the weekend, adding: “IRONMAN is here, Challenge Family is here, the PTO is here, we are here and we are all celebrating the sport and we should do that.
“And it’s not about that we will sell Roth – because there were many comments on social media!
“No, it’s about stopping this bull**** that happened in the past, you know, and I’m very grateful that he came and that he enjoys the race and I think the more co-operation between the organisations, the better.”
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
