BIOGRAPHY

Luke was born and raised in NSW on the Mid North coastal town of Taree. From an early age he pursued sporting interests with a passion.Starting with Soccer and progressing to Rugby League, Cricket, Tennis, Golf, Little Athletics, Basketball, Running, Swimming and Water Polo.Luke became a State level swimmer at Primary school and then represented NSW in Under 14 Water Polo.

His interest in Triathlon was fired in the early 90's when he was taken to Forster by his parents to help man an aid station at the Australian Ironman.

In 1995, he entered his first Triathlon at Trial Bay, NSW and won. From this point he was "hooked". In 1996 the family moved to Queensland's Gold Coast- a mecca for Triathlon training and racing. Luke was in his element, training and racing, honing new skills and challenging himself against older, seasoned competitors whenever he could. He supplemented Triathlon with Cross Country and Track running and held numerous Queensland school titles and the 16 yrs Queensland Steeplechase record over 2000m.

Luke was selected in the Australian Duathlon team at 16 yrs old to compete in the World Championships at St Wendell, Germany. As the Under 20's youngest competitor he finished 7th. In 1998 he became the youngest competitor in the St.George triathlon series, learning some valuable lessons in the Grand Prix style of racing. Subsequently Luke was selected in three Australian Junior teams for the World Championships. His best result was at Edmonton in 2001 where he finished third. He suffered the disappointment of a flat tyre at Perth 2000 and finished 9th U23 at Queenstown in 2003.

In 2001 Luke competed in the inaugural Sydney Youth Olympics and won by a considerable margin. This result helped to secure him a place in the Australian Institute of Sport Triathlon squad and provided Luke with valuable support , training and learning experiences through AIS camps in Australia and in France. It was from here that Luke launched his international triathlon career chalking up some very creditable performances in Europe.

Luke became fascinated by the US triathlon scene through his friendship with Peter Coulson and Michellie Jones and in 2003 set off to pursue the American circuit where athletes specialize in the non-drafting format. Showing a preference for longer distances, he managed three first placings in his first year. In 2004 he returned to the US again, recording two first placings, a second and some minor placings.Through racing half-ironman races Luke experienced the thrill of going head to head with some of the major world players in the longer distance events.This experience coupled with his youthful memories of the Forster Ironman lured him towards Ironman. He began training in earnest for his debut over this distance in the WA Ironman,Bussleton. Luke finished 3rd in his first outing in a brisk time of 8.34, tired, totally spent but wildly elated as he passed down the finish chute.

In 2006 Luke realized his dream of competing in the Ironman World Championships in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Although Luke suffered a stress fracture in his knee after a bike crash in training just a few weeks before the event, he decided to compete anyway. Limping to the finish he achieved a major life goal. Luke continues on his quest to one day win the Hawaii Ironman.