It was a day of celebration for Jesse Mortensen who was inducted into the South Australian Hall of Fame on Sunday 30 March, for his contribution to triathlon over the past 32 years at the 2025/26 South Australia Awards.
First entering the sport in February 1993, albeit as a cross-training opportunity having risen through the ranks of junior tennis, Jesse found a new love – triathlon.
It was from that moment on that the trajectory of Jesse’s life shifted from tennis to triathlon. He was well and truly engulfed by the sport – living, breathing and loving every moment of it. Triathlon took him all round Australia and his passion for the sport only grew jumping over every obstacle that was thrown his way.
Looking through the archives, Jesse’s professional career in triathlon officially began in 2002 when he became a professional coach and it’s fair to say the rest was history.
Jesse’s love for triathlon was spread far and wide moving to Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory where he ran community sporting events, youth activities, and sport festivals highlighting not only his love for the sport but so too his connection to community.
His bike maintenance and handling skills courses for Aboriginal children and adolescents became a focal point in the community — delivered in conjunction with the Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation and the Julalakari Council Aboriginal Corporation.
Moving from Tennant Creek to the Kimberly region, Jesse developed the Kimberly Triathlon Series drawing participants from Darwin, Katherine and Halls Creek. His work is continued to be felt across the region breathing life back into a dormant triathlon and cycling club that is now pumping with activity.
Nothing was ever too hard for Jesse when it came to triathlon, taking on the Presidency role of the Alice Springs Triathlon Club which saw a 500% increase in both membership and event participation. His forward thinking and initiative saw the club’s first website and social media channels established along with funding for junior pathway opportunities.
In 2016, Jesse returned to South Australia where he took on the role of Executive Director of Triathlon South Australia. A role that was not taken lightly. Throughout his tenure Jesse endured his fair share of curveballs including delivering the world’s first virtual Duathlon event and of course the global COVID-19 pandemic which ceased participation.
But Jesse’s love for coaching really came to fruition accepting the role of National Manager of Coach Education with AusTriathlon which saw the rollout of many new
services and platforms such as the Learning Management System, 2024 Performance Coach Course, and introduced TrainingPeaks University and High Performance Coach University days into the national coaching calendar.
There is no shortage of accolades when it comes to Jesse Mortensen and it was a great honour to have him inducted into the South Australian Hall of Fame for his commitment, dedication and love for the sport.
In his famous last words “I’ll never leave triathlon, but for now it’s my 5 to 9, not my 9 to 5. I’ll be back. I don’t know when, or what it will look like, so it isn’t goodbye, it’s see you soon.”
