Isaac is a blue-blood in the Utah running scene. His father Bob Wood was the agent for most of the BYU Olympians coming out of BYU (Padilla, Cummings, Eyestone, Pyrah, McAdams, & Ward).
Isaac was the Direcror of Operations for BYU track and field and was the creator of the “Woods List” cross-country preview.
Both he and his father are very entrepreneurial minded and have experience directions races, forming clubs, finding sponsorships and a lot more.
The combo of Ward and Woods is a great team to give local Olympic development guys opportunities and funding they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Excited to see the program and hope to see it grow.
One would think that “Utah” would be incorporated into the name given the state funding. at least give the state some running tourism advertising. “Utah Elite” or some such
That’s pretty dumb way to look at things. $500k here, $500k there adds up pretty quick. Having state funded runners is absolutely insane. I really can’t understand why they would do this. What benefit to society is there?
99% of the taxpayers probably will never know this exists
not to mention that a couple hundred grand is a drop in the bucket when a state budget is in the billions.
That’s pretty dumb way to look at things. $500k here, $500k there adds up pretty quick. Having state funded runners is absolutely insane. I really can’t understand why they would do this. What benefit to society is there?
Given his religion and location, chance are overwhelming that Jared Ward is also a conservative and routinely votes against raising taxes and funding things like free lunches for needy schoolchildren and childcare subsidies. Yet he'll pocket a few $100k for a running club which does nothing for the greater good of society, what a joke. I used to kind of respect him but he is a disgrace with this stunt.
That’s pretty dumb way to look at things. $500k here, $500k there adds up pretty quick. Having state funded runners is absolutely insane. I really can’t understand why they would do this. What benefit to society is there?
Given his religion and location, chance are overwhelming that Jared Ward is also a conservative and routinely votes against raising taxes and funding things like free lunches for needy schoolchildren and childcare subsidies. Yet he'll pocket a few $100k for a running club which does nothing for the greater good of society, what a joke. I used to kind of respect him but he is a disgrace with this stunt.
Conservatives give more of their own money to charitable causes than non-conservatives. They typically don't try to give other folks money (taxes) away.
That’s pretty dumb way to look at things. $500k here, $500k there adds up pretty quick. Having state funded runners is absolutely insane. I really can’t understand why they would do this. What benefit to society is there?
Given his religion and location, chance are overwhelming that Jared Ward is also a conservative and routinely votes against raising taxes and funding things like free lunches for needy schoolchildren and childcare subsidies. Yet he'll pocket a few $100k for a running club which does nothing for the greater good of society, what a joke. I used to kind of respect him but he is a disgrace with this stunt.
That's what I'm saying.
I could also have a thriving online running consulting business if the gov gave me 400k to start it, 166k a year to run it. My profits would be somewhere around 166k/year. I would have around 0 clients. I would work 0 hours a week.
But NO ONE ELSE gets to do it. Just me because I me and my fellow mormon senator like running.
Jared Ward and Isaac Wood have started the Run Elite Program (REP), a new pro group in Utah that is receiving a few hundred thousands of dollars in state funding.
Seriously? They chose the name of "REP"? This is just as terrible of a name as Mary Cain's "Atalanta". Did they not sit back and think that no one will ever find them in Google because "REP" also means REPUBLICAN! There are far more REPUBLICANS than elite runners.
Some really good runners that have trained in Utah and are still active at a high level include:
Jared Ward, Clayton Young, Conner Mantz, Rory Linkletter, Nico Montanez, Dillon Maggard, Connor McMillan, Cam Levins, Abraham Alvarado. Some of those are on other teams and would probably stay where they are at but there is a good group in Utah.
Some notable collegians in Utah include: Casey Clinger, Brandon Garnica, Kenneth Rooks, Lucas Bons. More in the pipeline at the universities in Utah also. Sure I missed a few.
I’m sure 95% of the tax payers will be ‘thrilled’.
99% of the taxpayers probably will never know this exists
not to mention that a couple hundred grand is a drop in the bucket when a state budget is in the billions.
For the first time in the state's history, less than 50% of the population are LDS adherents. Expect a lot more progressive policies to be implemented there in the coming decade.
There has been some news on this but this was the first time we were able to talk to anyone about it.
Jared Ward and Isaac Wood have started the Run Elite Program (REP), a new pro group in Utah that is receiving a few hundred thousands of dollars in state funding.
Ward and Wood wanted to start a pro group in Utah and were looking for sponsors. State legislature Mike McKell is a big runner (he's running Boston this weekend) and suggested the try and get state funding. They got it and now the group is here.
Nothing partisan to say on this? Good use of public funds??
Anyways, I think this is pretty cool. Plenty of government funding goes towards stuff like the Olympic Training Center. Guessing the Norwegian triathletes get some government funding for training camps/testing. Could be off there. Seems like a great way to keep people in the sport & keep public support for it by winning some medals!!