A Local Takes the Title

The replaced bridge, which disrupted the cycle course in the previous event, was now in place so the original cycle loop was used again.

The prize money was still in place and paid the top ten male and top five female pros. For the first time in the events history a local athlete took the title from some of Australia’s top triathletes. Trent Chapman from Penrith stopped the long reign of Tim Bentley (albeit by a mere 4 seconds!) from making it 6 in a row. Trent would go onto place 3rd in the world junior titles and be major force on the world circuit for a number of years including 2 Nepean Triathlon titles.

Joanne King was back to make it two wins in a row. Joanne went onto become one of the most formidable triathletes in the world, winning the world title in 1998 in Laussane, the world long course title in 1998 and the 1999 Roth Ironman.

Joanne made a comeback to racing after a lay off of a few years and actually returned to take another Nepean Triathlon title 10 years later in 2007.