interview
Wellbeing: Gwinganna is a lifestyle retreat and spa spread over 500 acres in the mountains near Australia’s Gold Coast
could buy a piece of it,” says de Leede. In spite of Fitness First being a public company, a deal was agreed whereby he acquired a 15 per cent stake. De Leede remained with Fitness
First until 2008, leaving just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of the global fi nancial crisis.
“I’ve been very fortunate and my timing has normally been very good with getting in and getting out of things,” he observes. “Over the last couple of years it’s
fl attened out, but Fitness First Australia was always the part of the business that continually laid the golden egg – we had between 18 and 25 per cent year-on- year growth in both revenue and profi ts in the eight years that I was CEO.”
CHANGING LIVES In addition to Fit n Fast, de Leede also owns the award-winning Gwinganna, a 500-acre lifestyle retreat and spa in the mountains near the Gold Coast (see also Spa Business issue 3 07, p76, and the Spa Business 2011 Handbook, p42). “My father died of a heart attack aged 49, and my mother subsequently
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changed her life – she started eating properly and exercising. I’m not as disciplined as she was, but I did decide early on that, when I got to her age – which is about now – I wanted to live the way she was living and take care of myself. And I decided I needed to own a retreat where I could practise that. “We’ve been open for fi ve years now.
There’s programmed fi tness – offering both the ying, which includes things like meditation and pilates, and the yang, which includes everything from boxing to Body Pump. There are hikes in the hills and lectures on things like stress management and nutrition. All the food’s organic and we grow a lot of
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it ourselves. And we have a 35-room spa with 60 therapists. People come for all sorts of reasons, from depression to alcohol issues, and we’ve had huge growth even throughout the fi nancial crisis. It’s a truly life-changing place.” So, with all his experience, does de
Leede have any advice for the broader fi tness industry? “I genuinely believe it’s all about cheaper, better, faster – that’s the way the world’s moving. And I think, to grow the reach of our sector, creating a comfortable environment makes a lot of sense too. People are using lack of time as an excuse, and we have to make in-roads into that by making fi tness as quick and comfortable as possible.”
march 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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