Photo: Competitive Image

McKenzie made the announcement on his blog saying, “I am really excited to announce I am now officially working with Siri Lindley as my coach. I have mostly been self coached since 2003 with advice from several knowledgeable people here and there but nothing I would consider ‘coaching’. I’ve been competing in the sport for over 15 years now and I feel it’s the right time to join Siri and her amazing stable of athletes to get even more out of myself.”

PHOTOS: Ironman World Championship Pro Race

McKenzie earned his first top-10 finish at this year’s Ford Ironman World Championship, placing ninth. His season is far from over as he is slated to race in both the Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie on Nov. 6 and then the Ironman Western Australia on Dec. 4.

RELATED: The Making Of A World Champion

Ironman 70.3 San Juan winner Tim O’Donnell (@TOinTRI) wondered where his victory parade was: When I left San Juan hotel the doorman asked, “will there be a parade for u when u get home?” Sadly Javier my friend, I’m back & NO parade!

Ironman world champ Mirinda Carfrae (@Mirindacarfrae) had a celebrity sighting: On a random note – I saw Larry king live… live as in – in the flesh. He sat across from me in KTLA green room.

Ironman pro Luke McKenzie (@lukemckenzie) reconsidered a parking decision: Mum & dad are having no luck on the 1st few days of their US road trip. Trapped by a blizzard today! My bad for leaving our van in Oregon

Ironman pro Samantha McGlone (@samanthamcglone) had some fun at a hotel: Pretty sure this hotel room has at one point been a meth lab. #damnyouhotwire

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon winner Julie Dibens (@juliedibens) became a morning person again: is back on the early train. Love it when it’s warm enough to head out at the butt crack for a ride.

ITU speedster Will Clarke (@Theclarke) worked on his strategy for beating reigning ITU world champion Javier Gomez: Lunch out with the wife…No wedges for me today though. Gotta starve myself a little bit. Not going to beat Gomez weighing 73kg!

Olympic hopeful Hayley Peirsol (@hayhaypeirsol) made a curious musical choice: Slightly ashamed to admit that I dig the new Hansen song @carostilwell #theoldestbrotherneedstomoveon

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Written by: Tawnee Prazak

The happy couple on their wedding day. Photo: Larry Rosa

Luke McKenzie was devastated about pulling out of the Ironman World Championships due to injury. However, his time in Hawaii was anything but depressing; McKenzie had something even bigger to celebrate. On October 12, he married his fiancé, pro triathlete Amanda Balding, at a private home overlooking Keauhou Bay. Family and friends from all over the world were in attendance. Between the Aussie crowd and triathletes fresh off Ironman — aka athletes ready to let loose — it was quite a celebration.

Luke and Amanda are one of those couples who are clearly meant to be together; it’s easy to see that after spending just five minutes with them. They’re fun-loving and always full of smiles and laughter. The same can be said of their friends and family. So it’s no surprise that their wedding was as good as weddings get. It was casual but sophisticated and classy – fine food and wine, but shoes optional. An all-star triathlete crowd was in attendance, with guests including Mirinda Carfrae, Craig Alexander, Linsey Corbin, Hilary Biscay and her fiancé Maik Twelsiek, Terenzo Bozzone, Samantha McGlone, Belinda Granger, Ben Hoffman, Matt Lieto, the K-Swiss folks and more.

Triathlete.com talked with Luke about his big day and how his decision not to race played a role in everything…

Triathlete.com: What was it like to pull out of the race and deal with that while still looking forward to your wedding?

McKenzie: That was a tough one for me. I guess it never crossed my mind that something like that could happen having the wedding just three days after the race. As the race got closer and I realized my back wasn’t getting better I started to worry. I was really excited to be racing in front of all of our family and friends that had flown in from all around the world. I even had 70 “Team McKenzie” T-Shirts printed for them to wear on race day. I wanted to have them line Palani hill!

Unfortunately on the Tuesday evening before the race after a week of very limited swim and bike training and a lot of treatment on my back I went for a run to see how it was feeling. I literally couldn’t even run a single step. My heart sank as I knew at that point I had no hope of racing.

I had made my decision not to race and my family and friends began arriving for the wedding and having their support really lifted me. I felt like I was letting them all down by not racing when in the end they had made the trip to see us get married first and foremost. Initially it was hard to let go of the fact I wasn’t racing with everything going on around town but by focusing on having time with our wedding guests it made me look beyond the race and be excited about the wedding.

Triathlete.com: How did Amanda help you get through that low/high?

Both McKenzie and Balding are professional triathletes. Photo: Larry Rosa

Mckenzie: Amanda was amazing. We sat down over dinner on that Tuesday night when I knew I wasn’t going to make the start line and talked about all the possible scenarios. I was pretty depressed knowing all the hard work I had put into this race preparation would be for nothing. So I began to think maybe I could still swim and ride as I didn’t have too much pain while doing either. But then what happens if I had myself in a good position off the bike? Maybe I would try and run and do more damage?!

When I told Erik my sponsor at K-Swiss he offered me a seat in the car he was driving on the course and told me that he wanted me there to learn how to win this race. That really struck a chord with me and I knew he was right. I had to make this into an opportunity to see the race from a different angle. I would get the birds eye view and see the dynamics of the race from the luxury of a car rather than on a bike or in running shoes. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after-all?

Triathlete.com: Describe what kind of wedding you planned — the venue, the guests, the style/vibe, etc?

McKenzie: I actually googled “Places to get married in Kona,” and one of the properties that came up was this beautiful house on Keauhou Bay. We went to see the house on a previous visit to Hawaii and knew that was our dream place to have the wedding. It was perfect with several bedrooms for our wedding party, a huge catering kitchen and on a massive block of land that gave us several options to have the ceremony, dinner and the party after. Having the house for three days we got to utilize the property for things like swimming, snorkeling and stand up paddling as well.

Our guests were a great mixture of family from Australia and mostly friends from both Australia and the U.S. We had a few people that came all the way from the U.K., Europe and even a couple from Brazil! We are so blessed to have friends from all corners of the glob and to have them travel all the way to Hawaii we are forever thankful.

The style and vibe of the wedding was Hawaiian, Beach, Luau. Amanda and I are not religious people but definitely spiritual so the ceremony made references to the Hawaiian Islands and then creation of the earth and humanity. We wanted everyone to dress casually, and all of our wedding party went barefoot (as did a lot of our guests). We had an amazing spread of food courtesy of our friend Dhedra that flew in all the way from Miami, Florida! We had fun local Kona band, Leche de Tigre who had us rocking on the dance floor well into the night!

Triathlete.com: Did everything go as planned?

McKenzie: It did! Considering we only met our celebrant 10 minutes prior to the ceremony and we didn’t do a rehearsal, it still went off without a glitch. The only thing that was out of our control was we weren’t allowed to have our awesome band play after 9 p.m.; because of noise restrictions we had to shut them down. I am sure we all would have been dancing till 3 a.m. if it wasn’t for that rule!

Triathlete.com: What was the most memorable moment? What was a particularly funny moment/occurrence?

Germany's Maik Twelsiek and the United States' Hilary Biscay were in attendance. The recently engaged couple will be the next pair of triathlon stars to walk down the aisle. Photo: Larry Rosa

McKenzie: Too many to list!

1. I think the first would be that I “kissed the bride” before I was suppose to. That was funny and embarrassing at the same time.

2. Ten minutes after the ceremony when we went around all our family and friends getting high fives, hugs and kisses was a very special moment.

3. Justin Granger getting absolutely blotto (Aussie for drunk) well before dinner was hilarious too. I would have had my money on Belinda over Justin any day!

4. My dad, Peter’s, speech was hilarious and had everyone rolling around laughing.

5. Everyone dancing on the lawn as the band rocked away!

Triathlete.com: Despite not racing, it seems like last week was your best week ever…. true? Tell me why?

McKenzie: Without doubt the best week of my life! Like I keep saying to people: There will be plenty more Hawaii Ironman races in the future, but I only plan on having one wedding, and to share it with the our best friends and family in such a beautiful location I wouldn’t trade it for the world! I have married the woman of my dreams. How could it not be the best week ever?!?

I think it’s about having a good balance in your life of not over-obsessing about triathlon ever single second. You have to take the opportunities to let loose every once in a while, enjoy your surroundings and live in the moment. I am not just talking about your wedding day but also after an Ironman or big race you have completed. Don’t let triathlon rule your life; enjoy having triathlon be part of your celebration for life!

Triathlete.com: Now that you’re back home, what’s on the agenda?

McKenzie: We are finally home in Noosa, Australia! It’s been a long six months away living and racing overseas. We are so happy to be in our own apartment in our own bed. Top of our list is to get my back right and then we can make a game plan on what races I can do over the coming months. I really had my heart set on racing the Asia/Pacific Ironman 70.3 Champs in Phuket at the beginning of December, but that might be a little too soon? We will see over the coming weeks. For now besides the injury recovery it will be about enjoying life at home and catching up with friends.

See also:
Kona Training Log 2010: Luke McKenzie
Kona Cuts: Luke McKenzie

“I have withdrawn from the Ironman World Championships here in Kona,” McKenzie wrote. “It has been a gut wrenching decision but after a few days of deliberation I think I have made a wise decision?!”

McKenzie goes on to explain that he will not be racing largely due to an injury he suffered at the Ironman 70.3 Cancun race back on Sept. 19.

“I have been battling an SI joint issue since I had a mechanical mishap at the Cancun Ironman 70.3 a few weeks ago,” he explained. “The initial incident occurred when I hit a clump of dried concrete on the road at full speed and my seat bolt snapped from the forward pressure I had on it and caused my saddle to rock back and forward through most of the bike leg. I ran with a little pain during the run of that race but just put it down to ‘tightness’ from the foreign position. I spent my first few days in Kona treating with massage and it appeared to be healing fine.”

Although McKenzie appeared to look healthy on a bike ride we followed him on back on Monday, October 4, he says the pain has come back to a point he will not be comfortable racing.

“After some hard sessions around the weekend of the 25th and 26th I starting to see some signs of pain again and scaled back my training and focused on treating it, but unfortunately on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th I was literally bed ridden because my lower back was killing me so much.”

Check back as we continue to keep you updated on McKenzie’s injury.

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Photo by: Kurt Hoy

Both athletes will no doubt face hot conditions and tough competition from their fellow racers. McKenzie is a fan of racing several Ironmans in a season, and his biggest threat to defend could come from another athlete with the same philosophy. Belgium’s Marino Vanhoenacker is fresh off of a win at Ironman Florida and has at least three Ironmans on his schedule this year.

Granger’s biggest competition will likely come from fellow Ironman champions Rebecca Preston of Australia, Edith Neiderfriniger of Italy and her good friend Hillary Biscay of the United States.

Check back to Insidetri.com for a complete race recap.

Men’s Pro Lineup

Richard Thompson (AUS)

Romain Guillaume (FRA)

Luke Mckenzie (AUS)

Hirotsugu Kuwabara (JPN)

Markus Mlinar (AUT)

Andreas Venhorst (DEU)

Freddy Lampret (ZAF)

Michael Angelo Mandap (PHL)

Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL)

Dan Brown (AUS)

Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JPN)

Marek Nemcik (SVK)

Arland Macasieb (USA)

Jan Rehula (CZE)

Jozef Vrabel (SVK)

Justin Granger (AUS)

Women’s Pro Lineup

Ariane Monticeli (BRA)

Jocelyn Wong (USA)

Inge Vancauwenberghe (BEL)

Rebecca Preston (AUS)

Hillary Biscay (USA)

Belinda Harrison (AUS)

Amanda Balding (AUS)

Miranda Alldritt (CAN)

Maki Nishiuchi (JPN)

Megumi Shigaki (JPN)

Ladislava Cisarovska (CZE)

Edith Niederfriniger (ITA)

Belinda Granger (AUS)

Doe led the men out of the water and immediately began to put the heat on the rest of the strong field. The first string of men that lined up in pursuit of Doe included Brandon Marsh, McKenzie and Twelsiek. On two wheels the race shaped up quickly with Doe starting to ride away from the duo of McKenzie and Marsh. Twelsiek was closing and the only one of the three to be gaining on Doe.

By the time then men hit the thirty mile mark on the bike, Doe still held a 3minute 10second lead but had stopped putting time into the charging Twelsiek who had Mckenzie in tow. Leaving T2 the New Zealand native Doe still lead but it had been chopped to 1min45seconds (McKenzie) and 2minutes (Twelsiek)

When the men hit the turn around the shape of the race had changed as McKenzie had taken over the lead and was followed by the smiling German Twelsiek, sitting 15 seconds behind the Aussie. The fading Kieran Doe was now being pursued by a charging Brandon Marsh as the two men were now battling for podium positions. It took some time but McKenzie finally opened up the gap at the 10-mile mark as he surged, increasing his margin on Twelsiek and securing his win and a $6000 payday as the Hulaman Champion. Twelsiek followed less than two minutes later. Marsh finished in third and a dejected Doe crossed the line in fourth.

On the women’s side, Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 Champion Amy Marsh led out of the water and immediately put the heat on Kelly Couch and 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Champion Samantha McGlone. Similar to Doe, Amy Marsh gradually kept putting time into the trailing ladies and had opened up a two-minute gap on Couch by the 30-mile mark of the bike ride. The 30-mile mark also showed that McGlone’s race three weeks earlier at Ironman USA in Lake Placid was taking a toll as she kept losing ground to the two front runners. A hard charging Haley Cooper who had passed McGlone now occupied the third position.

As the women hit T2, Marsh had increased her lead to three minutes over Kelly Couch, seven minutes to Cooper and 11 minutes further back was a struggling McGlone. Gradually pecking away at Marsh’s lead, Couch finally took control just past the eight-mile mark and ran away to victory and her share for the $20,000. The rest of the money positions remained the same as Marsh held on to second trailed by Cooper and McGlone in third and fourth respectively.        

Hulaman Half-Ironman Distance Race
Washington County, Ore. – Aug. 16, 2009
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Luke McKenzie 3:47:07
2. Maik Twelsiek 3:48:44
3. Brandon Marsh 3:55:55
4. Kieran Doe 3:59:13
5. Damian Hill 4:02:26

Women
1. Kelly Couch 4:13:48
2. Amy Marsh 4:16:28
3. Haley Cooper 4:24:23
4. Samantha McGlone 4:33:30
5. Uli Bromme 4:34:14

For complete results click here.

Press release provided by Hulaman Half.

“The Bali race is really an awesome triathlon experience and is unlike any race in the world.” said Mr. McKenzie, “I had so much fun and it’s a great change for to race for the love of the sport here each year.”

The International Distance Triathlon features a 1.5 kilometer swim in the calm waters of Jimbaran Bay, a challenging 40k course through the hills and villages of Nusa Dua and the Ungasan peninsula and a flat, fast 10k run through the crowds of the fishing village of Jimbaran Bay. New this year was a 700m sand run from the swim exit to the new transition area at the Intercontinental Bali Resort, which added a new challenge to the event.

The women’s division featured a podium sweep by the Australians, with Michelle Ann Gailey (2:36:39), beating out 2008 winner, Rachel Gaudrey (2:38:58) and third place finisher Amanda Balding (2:45:00). Michelle exited the water one minute ahead of the next challenger, Kate Rutherford of the UK, and 90 seconds ahead of both Rachel and Amanda. Michelle kept her lead once she got on the bike. Rachel and Amanda passed Kate quite early on the bike, but were still minutes behind Michelle. Coming out of T2, Rachel gave one last push to catch Michelle on the flat run course but could not close the gap before the finish.

Good news came from Indonesia. In the top 30, three Indonesian male athletes grabbed three places. Kadri Regar (2:29:31), came 8th in the overall male category and as well won Indonesian Division. Andi Edinata (2:37:59), a 20 years old Indonesian triathlete, came 14th and third in Male 20-24 category. And MRA Sport Icon, Richard Sambera (2:51:34) who also came 6th in Male 35-39 category.

Nearly 400 international and Indonesian athletes took part in the Olympic distance
triathlon and 5k Fun Run. The event expo was home to a lively celebration where Hard
Rock Radio entertained throughout the morning.  The Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran
Bay offered delicious food and drink while local businesses sold Balinese merchandise and masseurs provided free massages to the public and athletes.

The fourth edition of the MRA Bali International Triathlon is slated for June 27, 2010.

Male Overall Results
1 Luke McKenzie AUS 2:10:15
2 Fredrik Croneborg SWE 2:13:57
3 Kyle James Gear AUS 2:23:15

Female Overall Results
1 Michelle Gailey AUS 2:36:39
2 Rachael Gaudry AUS 2:38:58
3 Amanda Balding AUS 2:45:00

The swim was led out by New Zealander Kieran Doe, and was quickly joined by what would be the definitive lead group on the bike; Cameron Watt, Tim Marr and McKenzie, with strong runner Courtney Ogden left out to chase the balance of the bike at over four minute behind.

With 25 miles left in the bike, Watt turned up the gas, with McKenzie the only able to respond to the effort as Doe and Marr falling off pace. The effort netted Watt and McKenzie a seven-minute buffer headed into T2, the two each scoring a 4:40 bike split.

Onto the run, McKenzie quickly assumed authority of the race, taking a two-minute lead in just the first two miles of the marathon. That lead would grow to over fifteen minutes, and despite a spate of late-mile fatigue, McKenzie would beat his time of a year ago to finish in 8:28:31.  Ogden was able to eventually capture and pass a fading Watt to run into second place, but unable to close on the defending race champ settled for second, over 14 minutes back. Czech run specialist Petr Vabrousek claimed third, three minutes in arrears of Ogden.

In typical fashion in the womens battle, the race was led out by high volume specialist Hillary Biscay with a 52-minute swim to set up the day. A 5:28 bike split helped her maintain the lead off the bike, but the lead would be short-lived. Liechtenstein’s Nicole Klingler rolled into T2 just over five minutes behind, thanks to a day-best 5:22 bike split, and passed Biscay early on as the American faded on the marathon.

Klingler’s only competition would come from Australian Nicole Ward, three minutes back of Klingler through the run. Ward made a few efforts to close the gap, but suffered for her efforts and gave her gains of seconds back in a matter of miles. The two would end up with the same marathon split (3:27), ensuring Klingler’s race was safe. Klingler crossed in 9:52:52 to take her first victory, as well as the first Ironman victory for an athlete from the country of Liechtenstein.

Ironman Japan
June 21, 2009, Goto Fukue, Japan
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run

Men
1. Luke McKenzie (AUS)    8:28:31
2. Courtney Ogden (AUS)    8:42:54
3. Petr Vabrousek (CZE)    8:45:59
4. Park Byung Hoon (KOR)    8:49:10
5. Kuniaki Takahama (JPN)    8:51:28
6. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JPN)    8:56:59
7. Cameron Watt (AUS)    8:57:54
8. Morimichi Iihoshi (JPN)    9:03:22
9. Masayuki Matsumaru (JPN)    9:04:14
10. Daiki Masuda (JPN)    9:05:17

Women
1. Nicole Klingler (LIE) 9:52:52
2. Nicole Ward (AUS) 9:56:00
3. Megumi Shigaki (JPN) 10:01:07
4. Hiromi Sato (JPN) 10:07:50
5. Hillary Biscay (USA) 10:14:19
6. Kaori Tokai (JPN) 10:31:29
7. Mai Taketomo (JPN) 10:46:18
8. Amanda Balding (AUS) 10:51:55
9. Anne Fallows (GBR) 11:05:59
10. Masako Kawakami (JPN) 11:11:21