When Joanne King-Hudson was growing up in the small town of Portland, she thought it was normal her parents exercised before pulling up a seat at the breakfast table.<\/p>\n
In primary school, Joanne, better known as \u201cJo\u201d, organised lunchtime races with new students to improve on her speed. By age 12, she was running three kilometres in 11 minutes.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until Jo turned 18 that she began training for triathlons. The modest two-time world champion is the newest Triathlon Hall of Fame inductee but maintains she didn\u2019t realise her successes were so extraordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really know my potential,\u201d the 43-yearold Torquay mother of two said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt I was a good runner. My parents were very supportive. I competed in regionals in Melbourne, Warrnambool and Geelong, but I started triathlons after Year 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took perseverance and wanting to be better, which saw me to the world championships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning the 1996 World Junior title (Olympic distance) in Cleveland at 20, Jo\u2019s fierce determination and unwavering commitment to the sport saw her claim the 1998 World ITU (Olympic distance) title two years later. She\u2019s one of few Australian athletes to win both a junior and senior world title.<\/p>\n
In 1999, Jo won the Nice Long Course in France. That same year, she outraced 4,000 competitors in one of Germany\u2019s most renowned triathlon competitions on the Ironman distance, Challenge Roth.<\/p>\n
Jo\u2019s also been crowned the Australian Sprint Champion (1997) and Australian Long Course Champion (1998 and 2002). In 1998 and 1999, she scored second place in the Australian Ironman Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cReceiving this award, it has been really good to reflect. At the time, it\u2019s your livelihood. I knew my results were great, but everyone I was associated with was winning a world title,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recently watched my interview after the world championships and I was so like \u2018yeah, onto the next race\u2019. I was very young.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jo\u2019s husband Nathan, a former pro cyclist and Ironman competitor, said Jo was a force to be reckoned with in the 90s, a decade he said was the \u201cgolden era\u201d of triathlons.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was so dominant. Women would rock up to races and go \u2018oh no, Jo\u2019s here\u2019 because they knew their chances of winning were small,\u201d the proud husband said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe won pretty much every big race in the world within the space of a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
While her stunning career was only short-lived, Jo\u2019s journey to the top didn\u2019t come without its downfalls. After competing in Hawaii with a sore foot, Jo went on to train in Switzerland where her coach made her run a marathon on a treadmill at 20kmh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was almost a cult-like existence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEndurance sport is so addictive, and you always think you need to be doing more, but you don\u2019t. It\u2019s hard to convince yourself and others of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jo blew out her posterior cruciate ligament and retired at 24.<\/p>\n
In 2002, the sporting legend made the decision to move to Torquay, a place where she says no one knew she was a professional triathlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI moved to Torquay to find myself really. It\u2019s been a great place for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a job as a receptionist at Corio Bay Medical Centre. I didn\u2019t even know what an hourly rate was. To know how to lead a normal life was foreign to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The excitement of uprooting her life quickly came crashing down when Jo\u2019s doctor uncovered a melanoma on her lower back. On the day it was discovered, the fitness enthusiast went for a walk from Torquay to Anglesea and back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be my last walk!\u201d<\/p>\n
After having the melanoma removed, Jo was in the clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI resumed training because that\u2019s what made me happy. It was my identity.<\/p>\n
I entered an Ironman after a lot of years off, and ironically I met Nathan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The couple married at Torquay Point about eight years ago. They now have two children, Jonathan, 7, and Emily, 5.<\/p>\n
Though she\u2019s no longer competing at an elite level, Jo continues to lead an active lifestyle, running three group training sessions a week in Torquay and coaching athletes online.<\/p>\n
\u201cTorquay seems to be a different demographic \u2013 people don\u2019t want to formalise the way they train.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (Jo and her clients) go swimming on Saturday mornings, about 50 of us, but it\u2019s not a club \u2013 Torquay doesn\u2019t need that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Find Jo at @jokingtraining on Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Joanne King-Hudson was growing up in the small town of Portland, she thought it was normal her parents exercised before pulling up a seat at the breakfast table. In primary school, Joanne, better known as \u201cJo\u201d, organised lunchtime races with new students to improve on her speed. By age 12, she was running three […]<\/p>\n