The ‘first family of Australian triathlon’ will take on the role of event ambassadors for this year’s Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns. Luke McKenzie and partner Beth Gerdes, both professional triathletes, will bring a family feel to this year’s festival with the help of their eight-month-old daughter Wynne.
Gerde’s family is flying over from Philadelphia, while the McKenzie clan will make the trip from Noosa, Austraila, to spend the week with the couple in Port Douglas before watching them race the 2015 IRONMAN Cairns on Sunday 14 June.
“This will be my familiy’s first ever visit to Australia and Cairns is the perfect spot. They’re excited to explore the rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef, and of course to watch us race as well,” Gerdes said.
“Both Beth and my parents are great at giving us the space to concentrate on the race and I am sure they will have a daily itinerary planned to see the waterfalls, rainforests and of course the reef,” added McKenzie.
The couple are part of this year’s Cairns Airport Adventure Festival, held between 7-14 June, as official ambassadors, and are keen to take in the many spectacular sights Cairns has to offer. “We are looking forward to exploring with our families while we’re in Cairns and we will definitely get Wynne out to the Great Barrier Reef for the first time,” Gerdes said.
IRONMAN Cairns holds a special place in the couple’s hearts, both professionally and personally. “Cairns was the very first place I visited in Australia in 2013 and I can’t wait to return in 2015. Cairns is actually where Luke and I began dating so it is special for us in that way as well,” Gerdes added.
The Cairns Airport Adventure Festival, incorporating the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns and Flight Centre Active Travel IRONMAN 70.3 Cairns, will be held from Sunday 7 June to Sunday 14 June. Entries for all events on the festival line-up are open.
The Cairns Airport Adventure Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a growing calendar of sporting, cultural and regional events across the State.
The Coral Coast 5150 Triathlon, another event on the line-up, has reportedly seen a huge increase in numbers over recent years and offers a warm up event for the IRONMAN 70.3 Cairns race and is positioned as an ideal opportunity for locals to compete – with three distances to choose from.
Professionally McKenzie broke a three year win drought to take the IRONMAN Cairns title, which proved the perfect build up for the 2013 IRONMAN Hawaii World Championship in Kailua-Kona, where he finished second. After a disappointing race at the World Championship in 2014, he’s hoping a return to Cairns will see him make a return to the podium in Hawaii this October.
“Last year I didn’t race much and it really showed in my results. I learnt there is a lot to be said for race experience and fitness. Looking back on 2013, I raced often and well over all distances from Olympic to IRONMAN so I am going to return to a lot of the events I did two years ago,” McKenzie said.
An elite athlete herself Gerdes managed the remarkable feat of finishing fifth at 2014 IRONMAN Malaysia last year just four months after Wynne’s birth. She followed up with an impressive fourth at IRONMAN Western Australia just two months later.
“I’m hoping that 2015 will be my best year yet! I finished IRONMAN Western Australia in December when Wynne was six months old and already felt like I was nearly back to my pre-pregnancy fitness,” Gerdes said.
www.ironmancairns.com
www.ironman.com/cairns70.3
www.ironman.com/coralcoast5150
www.cairnsadventurefestival.com.au
