Tri Legend Evelyn Williamson

Evelyn Williamson was New Zealand’s first female to represent her country in triathlon at the Olympics in it’s inaugural event in Sydney 2000. Her involvement in the sport of triathlon has continued as an event organiser and selector for Tri NZ. NZ Triathlon and Multisport caught up with Evelyn to find out her top moments in the sport.






I did my first Tri (Surfbreaker at the Mt. in 1988) as a 6th former schoolgirl. While in my final year at Otago Uni I started to train seriously with friend Alex Stewart. My first age group world champs was Manchester 1993 followed by every subsequent year (bar two with injury) until 2008 (14 in total).  At world cup in  Auckland n 1995 I came 5th, joining the jpro ranks in 1996(Cleveland, Ohio). I snagged an elusive Bronze medal (one of my proudest moments) at the Elite World Champs in Lausanne in 1998. Raced proudly at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (a disappointing result of 22nd having been ranked top 10 for the previous couple of seasons) and the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games (10th). Over my 14 year international career, I competed in over 100 ItU world cups, as well as a pretty successful and enjoyable foray into the non drafting racing the USA where I carved out a decent living and made lifelong friends. I count myself really fortunate to have had the experiences and opportunities and have wonderful memories, both hard and fun of life on the road and getting myself around the world each year on a tight budget but still beating many of the better resourced and funded athletes, something I’m also proud of.

One of my most memorable moments was walking out to be introduced to the crowd in front of the Sydney opera house for the 2000 Olympic Games, (with my silver fern branded wetsuit)  the first time Triathlon had been included.  It was a strangely surreal yet peaceful moment, knowing all the work had been done, the moment was finally here, I couldn’t do anymore and I really was part of something so much bigger than me or my sport that day – we were all making history. It was satisfying to have been able to accomplish that, not just personally but for my family, friends and sponsors.

I am currently working (in a dream job really for a washed up athlete) for the New Zealand Olympic Committee, in some small way helping the next generation of elite athletes achieve their goals and dreams – I get a real kick out of seeing them representing the silver fern on the world stage. Tomo and I also run many grass roots events with our event company including the perennial Splash and Dash, XTERRA trail runs, the Kapiti women’s triathlon and a help out at a few other community events.....getting just as much joy as seeing first timers have a go as the elites taking on the world. I moonlight as a Tri NZ elite selector which is challenging but a nice way to give back to the sport I love. Pretty lucky all in all.


Originally published in New Zealand Triathlon & Multisport Issue 100, January 2015