Chrissie Wellington's Rapid Rise

THIS time last year Chrissie Wellington was an adviser to David Miliband at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She did triathlons in the time she had free from writing briefs on international development.

Miliband has climbed the political pole since to become Foreign Secretary but his rise to Gordon Brown's right-hand man is nothing to the stratospheric leap his former adviser has made in the world of triathlon.

On January 6, Wellington flew to Switzerland with her bike to ask respected coach Brett Sutton whether he thought she might make it as a professional in the sport. Ten months later she became the first Briton to win the World Ironman title in Hawaii, $100,000 and a lucrative sponsorship deal.

Hardly surprising, then, that from a veritable avalanche of nominations from readers for the first Ian Wooldridge Memorial Award, his widow Sarah has chosen Wellington, whose first thought on hearing about it was to say how pleased her granny would be. At 101, she is a regular Daily Mail reader.

The Ironman is an event after Wooldridge's own adventurous heart. A man who sent himself down the Cresta Run and flew with the Red Arrows just to see what it was like would have appreciated someone who swims 2.4 miles in the sea before cycling 112 miles on the sides of a volcano and finishes by running a marathon.

What makes Wellington's rapid rise more remarkable is that she is 29-years-old, and in the first 28 had never once considered sport a possible career. 'It had never been a life dream to get to Hawaii. Three years ago I wouldn't have known what an Ironman was,' she admitted.

'So it is very difficult for me to grasp what I have achieved. I am incredibly proud, but because it is not something I have worked toward for many years I have a different kind of gratification to other athletes, for whom it has been all they have ever focused on.

'For me, it is a very important part of my life now, but not the only part and certainly not the only passion.

So I am able to put it a little bit in perspective and realise it is not the be all and end all and it's more important what I do with the victory than the victory itself.' Wellington, you should understand, is someone out of a template thrown away after the Victorians finished building Empire. You can imagine her trying to be first to reach the source of the Nile rather than being a modern corporate sportswoman.

How many other professional sportsmen and women have taught swimming in America, kayaked across New Zealand, cycled 1,000 miles across the foothills of the Himalayas and run the London Marathon before they earned a penny from sport? Oh, yes, and done all of it while gaining a first at university, completing a Masters in international politics and economics and advising first Margaret Beckett and then Miliband on Government policy.

Wellington took just 2 hours 59 minutes to run the marathon in Hawaii, within 30 seconds of the fastest ever at the event and admitted showboating for the crowd for the last kilometre because she misjudged where the finish was. 'Perhaps next year,' she said of missing the record.

'Whenever I do something it's always about trying to be the best I can be and beating everybody else. I am ultra-competitive by nature.

When I was at school it was "Gotta get nine As at GCSE level, then three As at A level, then a first at university", the best at what I am doing at any point in my life.

'I was always sporty but I was always focused on studies. So sport was for the social side. When I was at Birmingham University I was captain of the swim team but I only trained twice a week and for me those were big social occasions. Yes, I enjoyed a drink.' When she travelled after university, she surfed in Australia and hiked in Africa but her sport was never structured. She began running to lose weight and ran the London Marathon in 2002 for charity. Her time of 3hr 8min hinted at potential, but before she could run another she was hit by a car while biking to work and forced to keep fit in a pool.

Triathlon seemed the logical development and in borrowed wet-suits and 'third-hand, knackered bikes' she contested a few in 2004, but it came to nothing because she took a sabbatical from working for the Government to work on a development project in Nepal.

While there, she and a friend founded an orphanage which is now self-supporting and she found time to mountain bike to the base camps of Everest, riding through passes at 5,000 metres above sea level, sometimes in sand and snowstorms.

Perfect training, because on her return in 2006 she entered a triathlon in Shropshire and won it.

That qualified her at the short Olympic distance for the world agegroup championships and she won that, the fastest female in any age group, by four minutes.

So, disillusioned with the paperpushing her work in Government had become, she began to wonder if she might make it as a professional.

'Big decision because I had to finance myself and might win nothing. Brett said, "Go for it, girl" and so I've taken another unpaid sabbatical.

'I'm still on the Government's books but triathlon is now my job.

It's incredibly hard mentally and physically, very monotonous and mono-dimensional. It's 24/7 because everything eating, sleeping is geared to it.' Her first Ironman was in Korea in May. She won that and then her second, the world championship.

She is still awaiting receipt of the $100,000 but already she has persuaded her first major corporate sponsor to equip some underprivileged athletes from the Philippines she is mentoring.

'The beauty of sport for me is not winning or making a few bob but the power of it to inspire and empower people,' she said.

Next year she might try to make Britain's Olympic team for Beijing in May but it is a sprint compared with Ironman events.

'Mind you, this time last year I never thought I would be an Ironman champion. That is why I am so flattered and honoured to receive an award in Ian's name. My granny will be really chuffed.' n.wilson@dailymail.co.uk

WHAT YOU SAID ...

TRIATHLETES master and train for three disciplines and get little financial help. Chrissie Wellington has gone from beginner to winner in a short time. Many sporting heroes are unsung, unlike the pro athletes featured on your list of nominees.

I think Chrissie embodies the values Ian Wooldridge held so dear.

KIM PRYDE I NOMINATE Chrissie Wellington because she epitomises what a sports person should be like. In these days of greed in sport, it is refreshing to see someone who is successful giving something back to the world community.

GARY MARCHANT CHRISSIE deserves this award not only for her outstanding achievement, but for the hurdles she has overcome and the under-privileged folk she has helped on the way. She will use all the money she can to promote and help poorer countries and rising athletes achieve their dreams.

DARREN THORPE AFTER making the difficult decision to leave her job at the beginning of this year and with no financial backing, Chrissie gave her time to focus solely on training and with all that energy channelled into one goal, she was always going to be a hard person to beat.