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Emperor Cao Pi and his ministers

Year 220 (CCXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Antonius and Eutychianus (or, less frequently, year 973 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 220 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events[link]

By place[link]

Roman Empire[link]

• The Goths invade Asia Minor and the Balkans.
• An Indian delegation visits the Roman emperor Elagabalus.
• Great frost in England is said to have lasted for five months.^[1]
• Imperator Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (Elagabalus) and Valerius Comazon Eutychianus become Roman Consuls.
• Elagabalus divorces Julia Paula and marries Aquilia Severa, a Vestal Virgin. The wedding causes a enormous controversy – traditionally, the punishment for breaking celibacy is death by being buried alive.
• King Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid Dynasty, gains support from some Parthian sub-kings and revolts against the rule of Vologases VI. Ardashir, a grandson of Sasan, rules Persis since 208 and six years ago gained control of the region surrounding of Persepolis.

Asia[link]

• Three Kingdoms: The northern part of China is under the control of Cao Cao, Imperial Chancellor and ruler of the Kingdom of Wei. When he dies his son Cao Pi succeeds to the throne and proclaims himself emperor of Wei. This symbolizing the end of the Han Dynasty, former emperor Han Xiandi is renamed Duke of Shanyang.

By topic[link]

Religion[link]

• The Wei Dynasty will give official recognition to Daoism (Taoism) as its religious sect, and the sect's celestial masters will reciprocate by giving spiritual approbation to the Wei as successors to the Han. By the end of the century most powerful families in northern China will subscribe the Daoist principles.

Births[link]

• Wei Guan, general of the Kingdom of Wei (d. 291)

Deaths[link]

• March 15 – Cao Cao, self-appointed prime minister of the Han Dynasty (b. 155)
• Cheng Yu, advisor of Cao Cao (b. 141)
• Ding Yi
• Fa Zheng, advisor to Liu Bei (b. 176)^[2]
• Liu Feng, Shu general (executed by Liu Bei) (b. 192)
• Sun Jiao, general under Sun Quan
• Xiahou Dun, general and relative of Cao Cao
• Yu Jin, general of the Kingdom of Wei

References[link]

The Edge
Background information
Birth name	David Howell Evans
Born	(1961-08-08) 8 August 1961 (age 50) Barking, Essex, England, United Kingdom
Origin	County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Rock, post-punk, alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, activist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Island, Mercury
Associated acts	U2, Passengers
Website	www.u2.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Explorer Fender Stratocaster Gibson Les Paul Fender Telecaster Gretsch Country Gentleman Gretsch White Falcon Rickenbacker 330/12

David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge),^[1] is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2's music.

The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, but was raised in Ireland after moving there as an infant. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, he formed U2 with his fellow students and his older brother Dik. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most popular acts in popular music, with successful albums such as 1987's The Joshua Tree and 1991's Achtung Baby. Over the years, The Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, The Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record Zooropa, and occasionally contributed lyrics. The Edge met his second and current wife, Morleigh Steinberg, through her collaborations with the band.

As a member of U2 and as an individual, The Edge has campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising, a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate Bono on several projects, including songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner, and the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Royal Shakespeare Company's London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Personal life[link]

The Edge at a U2 concert in Anaheim (2005)

David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital,^[2] Essex, England to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans.^[1] When he was one, his family moved to County Dublin, Ireland where he attended St Andrew's National School. He received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at their school, Mount Temple Comprehensive School, seeking musicians to form a band.^[3] The band accepted both of them. This band went through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978 (Dik Evans left the band just before the name change).^[3] U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their debut album, Boy, was released in 1980.

In 1981, leading up to the October tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay.^[3] During this period, he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers, in which bandmates Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved.^[4] Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday".^[3] The Edge married his high school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983.^[5] The couple had three daughters together: Hollie in 1984, Arran in 1985 and Blue Angel in 1989.^[4] The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get officially divorced because of Irish laws regarding marriage annulment; divorce was legalised in 1995 and the couple were legally divorced in 1996.^[4]

In 1993, The Edge began dating Morleigh Steinberg, a professional dancer and choreographer employed by the band as a belly dancer during the Zoo TV Tour. They had a daughter, Sian (born 1997), and a son, Levi (born 25 October 1999),^[4] before marrying on 22 June 2002.^[4] He appeared in the 2009 music documentary film It Might Get Loud.^[6] The Edge has been criticized for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a 156 acre plot of land in Malibu, California.^[7] The California Coastal Commission voted 8-4 against the plans, with the project described by the commission's executive director, Peter Douglas, as "In 38 years...one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation...It's a contradiction in terms – you can't be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location."^[7] The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to remain neutral on the issue following a $1 million donation from The Edge and a commitment from The Edge to designate 100 acres of the land as open space for public footpaths.^[7]

Music style[link]

Guitar playing[link]

As a guitar player, The Edge has a sound typified by a low-key playing style, a chiming, shimmering sound (thanks in part to the sound of VOX AC-30s) that he achieves with extensive use of delay effects and reverb. The feedback delay is often set to a dotted eighth note (3/16 of a measure), and the feedback gain is adjusted until a note played repeats two or three times.^{[citation needed]}

On 1987's The Joshua Tree, The Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in 1982 of his style,

"I like a nice ringing sound on guitar, and most of my chords I find two strings and make them ring the same note, so it's almost like a 12-string sound. So for E I might play a B, E, E and B and make it ring. It works very well with the Gibson Explorer. It's funny because the bass end of the Explorer was so awful that I used to stay away from the low strings, and a lot of the chords I played were very trebly, on the first four, or even three strings. I discovered that through using this one area of the fretboard I was developing a very stylized way of doing something that someone else would play in a normal way."^[9]

Many different influences have shaped The Edge's guitar technique.^{[citation needed]} His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for only a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument.^[9] He said in 1982 of this early experimentation, "I suppose the first link in the chain was a visit to the local jumble sale where I purchased a guitar for a pound. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that."^[9] The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's 1980s material made heavy use of echos.

Vocals[link]

The Edge in June 2005

The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. U2's 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky are good reference points for his singing (as are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle and Elevation 2001: Live from Boston). For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". Another technique he uses in his backing vocals is the falsetto, in songs such as "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", "A Man and a Woman", "The Wanderer", live versions of "The Fly", and "Window in the Skies".

The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" and "Numb", the first half of the song "Seconds", dual vocals with Bono in "Discotheque", and the bridge in the song "Miracle Drug".^[4] He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the PopMart Tour and "Party Girl" during the Rotterdam Zoo TV show when it was Bono's birthday).^[10] He also plays a solo acoustic version of the song "Love is Blindness" that is featured in the documentary film From the Sky Down.

Other instruments[link]

He has played piano and keyboards on many of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down", "October", "So Cruel", "New Year's Day", "Running to Stand Still", "Miss Sarajevo", "The Hands that Built America", and "Original of the Species" and others. He plays the organ on "Please". In live versions of "New Year's Day", "The Unforgettable Fire", "Your Blue Room", and "Moment of Surrender", he plays both the piano and guitar parts alternately. In most live versions of "Original of the Species," piano is the only instrument played during the song. Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he occasionally plays bass guitar, including the live performances of the song "40" where The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments.

Solo recordings[link]

In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with such artists as Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Ronnie Wood, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film Captive (1986). From this soundtrack the song "Heroine", the vocal of which was sung by a young Sinéad O'Connor was released as a single.

He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman. He and fellow U2 member, Bono, wrote the lyrics to the theme of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. The Edge, along with bandmate Bono, recently composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On May 25, 2011, a single titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge was released digitally.^[11] The music video was released on July 28, 2011.^[12]

Musical equipment[link]

Edge's 1964 Vox AC30 on stage in Foxborough for the U2 360° Tour.

The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time") and lap steel guitar. Compared to many lead guitarists, The Edge is known for using many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night, whereas The Edge takes 45 on the road, and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert. He is estimated to have more than 200 guitars in the studio.^{[citation needed]}

Philanthropy[link]

In 2005, The Edge along with Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz co-founded Music Rising, a charity that helped provide replacement instruments for those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. The instruments were originally only replaced for professional musicians but they soon realized the community churches and schools needed instruments as well. The charity's slogan is "Rebuilding the Gulf Region note by note" and has so far helped over a hundred musicians who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Edge also serves on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diets, and lifestyle.^[13]

See also[link]

• Timeline of U2
• List of people on stamps of Ireland

References[link]

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (October 2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Edge

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Edge

• U2.com, official U2 site
• Music Rising
• The Edge at the Internet Movie Database
• The Edge – Album Credits
• A Study of The Edge's Guitar Delay
• The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
• Comment on the mathematical analysis of The Edge's guitar sound

Chrissie Wellington

Chrissie Wellington winning the 2008 Frankfurt Ironman
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Muppet [1] The Chrissinator [2]
Born	(1977-02-18) 18 February 1977 (age 35) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Residence	Boulder, Colorado London, near Richmond Park
Alma mater	University of Birmingham University of Manchester
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)[1]
Other interests	International development
Website	www.chrissiewellington.org
Sport
Country	UK
Team	teamTBB (2007-2008)
Turned pro	February 2007
Coached by	Frank Horwill (2002–2004) Tim Weeks (2006) Brett Sutton (2007–2008) Simon Lessing (2009) self-coached (2009) Dave Scott (from 2009)
Medal record Women's triathlon Ironman Triathlon World Championships Gold 2011 Kailua-Kona Elite Gold 2009 Kailua-Kona Elite Gold 2008 Kailua-Kona Elite Gold 2007 Kailua-Kona Elite ITU Long Distance World Championships Gold 2008 Almere Individual ITU Age Group World Championships Gold 2006 Lausanne Individual

Christine Ann Wellington MBE (born 18 February 1977), known as Chrissie Wellington, is an English triathlete and the current Ironman Triathlon World Champion. She holds all three world and championship records relating to ironman-distance triathlon races: firstly, the overall world record, secondly, the Ironman World Championship course record, and thirdly, the official world record for all Ironman-branded triathlon races over the full Ironman distance. She won the World Championship in three consecutive years (2007–2009), but was unable to start the 2010 World Championship race because of illness, then regained the title in 2011. She is the first British athlete to hold the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, and remains undefeated over the Ironman distance. She is the only triathlete, male or female, to have won the World Championship less than a year after turning professional, an achievement which the British Triathlon Federation described as "a remarkable feat, deemed to be a near impossible task for any athlete racing as a rookie at their first Ironman World Championships."^[3]

She has lowered the world record on every occasion she has raced Challenge Roth (formerly Quelle Challenge Roth) at Roth in Bavaria, Germany. Her current record of 8 hours 18 minutes 13 seconds is more than 32 minutes faster than the record which stood from 1994 to 2008, when Yvonne van Vlerken broke it by just over 5 minutes. Following her 2010 world record, her former coach Brett Sutton described Wellington as "a person of true international sporting excellence that is overshadowed by no one in any other sport."^[4]

Wellington is one of only three women to have achieved three consecutive victories at the Ironman World Championships, the other two being Natascha Badmann and Paula Newby-Fraser. The latter's course record at the World Championships had stood for 17 years until Wellington broke it in 2009. Wellington holds the four fastest times ever recorded by a woman over the Ironman distance, and has the greatest number of sub-9 hour times—nine, five more than Newby-Fraser's previous record.

In addition to the Ironman titles, she was also the 2006 ITU Age Group World Champion and the 2008 ITU long-distance World Champion.

Before becoming a professional triathlete, Wellington worked for the British government as an adviser on international development and, for Rural Reconstruction Nepal, on development projects in Nepal. International development remains one of her passions. She is actively involved in supporting charities relating to international development and supporting and encouraging women and girls to take up sport. She is an ambassador for the Blazeman Foundation and, at the finish line of all her races, performs a "Blazeman roll" in memory of Jon Blais.

Early life[link]

Christine Wellington was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and grew up in Feltwell, a small village in Norfolk.^[5] She was a competitive swimmer as a teenager, when she swam for Thetford Dolphins,^[5] and went on to swim for her university.^[6] She describes herself as a "sporty kid, swimming, playing hockey, running, but never excelling and always more interested in the social side of the sports scene".^[7] She was educated at her local comprehensive school, Downham Market High School and Sixth Form,^[8] where she was a member of most school sports teams, but "focused more on my studies than I did on reaching my full potential on the pitch."^[8]

Career[link]

After graduating with first-class honours in geography from Birmingham University in 1998,^[9] Wellington travelled the world for two years, which she described as opening her eyes to the "many problems that exist in the world, but also to the opportunity for positive change."^[7] In 2000, she enrolled in an MA course in development studies at the University of Manchester. Graduating with a Distinction in October 2001, she joined the UK government agency DEFRA in London to work on international development policy. At DEFRA, she was part of the team that negotiated for the UK at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and became involved in following up the UK government's commitments on water and sanitation. She also worked on post-conflict environmental reconstruction policy.^[10]

Disillusioned with "bureaucracy and paper pushing", in September 2004 Wellington took sabbatical leave from DEFRA to work in Nepal for Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), a Nepalese development NGO. Based in the capital, Kathmandu, she managed a community-led total sanitation scheme in Salyan, a conflict-affected district in the west of the country.^[11] She also performed many other tasks for RRN, including preparing project proposals, editing books and writing papers.^[12]

On leaving Nepal at the end of 2005, she travelled to New Zealand, Tasmania and Argentina before returning to her old job at DEFRA in May 2006. She left this job in February 2007 in order to become a professional triathlete.^[13]

Triathlon career (amateur)[link]

Wellington's first^[10] triathlon race was at the Eton Super Sprints on 16 May 2004, where she finished third.^[14] In the following two months, she won this race on both occasions.^[15][16] She put her triathlon racing on hold for her sabbatical in Nepal, where she was based in Kathmandu, at an altitude of 1350 m (4430 ft).^[17] Every morning before work she would cycle around the neighbouring countryside on her mountain bike, with a group of foreign and Nepali cyclists known as the "Mongolian Cycling Team".^[18] She would also go running along the many hilly trails in the Kathmandu valley. When riding around the outlying villages on her mountain bike she would often have to wait for male co-workers to catch up with her.^[3] During a religious holiday, she spent two weeks cycling with friends some 1400 km from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet to Kathmandu, crossing mountain passes over 5000 m, enduring sandstorms and blizzards, and reaching Base Camp on the northern (Tibetan) side of Mount Everest at 5208 m (17090 ft).^[11] Her coach, Brett Sutton, believes this experience at altitude to have been very useful training for her later professional career,^[2] while Wellington herself regards it as having given her lasting mental strength.^[11]

Her friends in Nepal remarked on how she never missed a morning bike ride, whether or not she was sick: "Chrissie saying, 'Oh, I have a stomach bug' was like saying hello every day, but no matter how many bugs were inside her tummy she would always train and push herself every second", said one friend, adding, "We all wondered how fast she would be if she had no bugs – and that thought was scary."^[18]

In February 2006 she entered the Coast to Coast, a 243 km, two-day endurance race across the Southern Alps of New Zealand involving running, cycling and kayaking. She finished 2nd in this race, despite having no previous kayaking experience, apart from some brief training before the race.^[19]

Shortly after her return to the UK she won the 2006 Shropshire Olympic Triathlon.^[20] This qualified her to enter the ITU World Age Group (Amateur) Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, a title which she won on 2 September 2006, beating her nearest rival by 4 minutes and 2 seconds.^[21] She later said she "trained really hard for this race for 10 weeks, juggling 20 hours [a week] of training with my full-time job."^[22]

During this period, like most amateur triathletes, she had also continued entering running races. She had previously run the London Marathon for charity in 2002, finishing in 3:08:17, making her the fastest woman from her running club in that race.^[23] That result prompted her to get a running coach, Frank Horwill—whom she regarded as "legendary and ever inspiring"—and to take her running training much more seriously.^[10] She had hoped to improve her marathon time in the April 2003 London Marathon, but in March she was hit by a car while riding her commuter bike.^[24] Unable to run the marathon, she took up swimming again, leading her to try triathlon racing in 2004.^[10] After her ITU victory, she took up cross-country racing for the first time, as a means of building strength for her triathlon races.^[25] She enjoyed some success in B and C grade cross-country events around London,^[2] winning several races including the South of Thames Championship in December 2006.^[25]

The notorious 21 bends at the end of the bike stage of the Alpe d'Huez triathlon

Chrissie Wellington competing at the 2008 Frankfurt Ironman

Triathlon career (professional)[link]

2007[link]

After winning the world amateur title, Wellington began to consider becoming a professional, which would mean giving up her job. In January 2007, on the recommendation of a friend, she travelled to Switzerland to ask the opinion of the Australian triathlon coach, Brett Sutton. Within 5 days she had handed in her notice at DEFRA, and in February 2007 flew out to Thailand to join Sutton's teamTBB at their base in Phuket.^[2]

She turned professional with the intention of racing standard-distance events, and enjoyed early success, winning Olympic-distance events in Bangkok and Subic Bay, then returned to the UK where she won the sprint-distance event at Bleinheim. Later the same month she entered her first longer-distance event, the UK half-Ironman race at Wimbleball, but suffered mechanical problems with her bicycle (forcing her to climb the steep Exmoor hills in too high a gear) and finished in 5th place. She returned to winning form only six days later, at the shorter Zurich triathlon.

On 1 August 2007, Wellington took on her toughest challenge to date, the long-distance Alpe d'Huez Triathlon, known for its difficult summer heat, its altitude, and its hard climbs on both the bike and running stages. Despite a puncture and being forced off the road by an oncoming vehicle during a fast descent, she finished the bike stage 19 mins 30 sec in front of her nearest rival, Sione Jongstra,^[26] and extended her lead on the running stage to win the race by over 29 minutes, in 9th place overall.

Towards the end of July, her coach had suggested that she was ready for an Ironman, despite the relatively low volume of her training.^[27] She said of Sutton, "my training was more geared to standard distance, with not much high volume. I don’t seem to need high-volume work like three-hour runs. I’ve done none of these since I’ve been with Brett. Some of the other girls will. This is why he is so special: he has an ability to spot potential even if the athlete can’t. He said I was ready even on the training I was doing."^[27]

After 10 days of acclimatisation at her team's base in Thailand, Wellington won Ironman Korea, in very hot conditions, finishing over 50 minutes ahead of 2nd placed Yasuko Miyazaki, in 7th place overall.^[28] By winning this race, she earned a slot to race at the Ironman world championships in Hawaii.

Ironman world champion[link]

On 13 October 2007 (14 October UTC), Wellington won the world championship Ironman triathlon title at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, together with US$110,000 prize money.^[29] She finished in 9:08:45, five minutes ahead of Samantha McGlone, running the marathon leg in 2:59:58, the second-fastest time recorded to date by a woman on the Hawaii course.^[30] Her victory was described as the "biggest upset in Ironman Hawaii history",^[30] "a remarkable feat, deemed to be a near impossible task for any athlete racing as a rookie at their first Ironman World Championships"^[3] and "one of the biggest shocks in the sport's history."^[29]

2008[link]

At the Ironman Australia Triathlon in April 2008, her first Ironman since Hawaii, Wellington again won by a margin of five minutes, finishing 9th overall. Her marathon time of 3:01:53 was beaten by only two men.^[31] Only twenty days later, she attempted her first World Cup race, the Tongyeong BG Triathlon in Korea, but could only finish in 22nd place.^[32] She wrote, "If I judged every day by whether I win or lose, yesterday would be considered a 'bad day' [...] But I need to have these days - because the 'defeats' expose my weaknesses, and enable me to grow, learn and develop as an athlete."^[33]

European champion, return to Alpe d'Huez, and first half-Ironman win[link]

At the Ironman European Championship race held in Frankfurt, Germany on 6 July 2008, in perfect weather conditions, Wellington recorded the second-fastest time to date by a woman over the Ironman distance, just 32 seconds outside Paula Newby-Fraser's world record of 8:50:53 set in the 1994 Ironman Europe race, which was then held in Roth.^[34][35] Spectators were aware throughout the race that Wellington was close to breaking the world record, but she did not know exactly what it was, and in any case preferred to slow down to celebrate her victory over the last few kilometres, exchanging greetings and hi-fives with the crowd. Her coach said that her plan was "to do it as easy as possible" once she had got to the front.^[36] Other factors affecting her time were that she lost some of her nutrition on the bike (having to rely on the aid stations instead) and that the bike course was 2 km too long.^[37][38]

Later that month, she retained her title at the long-distance Alpe d'Huez event, finishing second overall, more than 25 minutes ahead of second-placed Aléxandra Louison and only 1 minute 23 seconds behind the winning man, Marcus Ornellas.^[39] She recorded the fastest overall time for the ascent of les 21 virages^[40] (pictured, right).

On 17 August she achieved her first win at the half-Ironman distance at the Timberman 70.3 triathlon in Gilford, New Hampshire, placing sixth overall, 18 minutes ahead of runner-up Amanda Stevens.^[41]

ITU long distance world champion and second Ironman world championship[link]

Two weeks after her Timberman win, Wellington met the Ironman-distance world record holder, Yvonne van Vlerken on the latter's home ground at Almere in an eagerly-awaited clash for the ITU long distance World Championship title. Wellington won with a "dominating performance",^[42] more than 17 minutes in front of Denmark's Charlotte Kolters. Van Vlerken finished in third place, 19 minutes behind Wellington.^[43]

In October Wellington returned to Kona as defending champion and retained her title, setting a new Hawaii marathon course record of 2:57:44. Despite losing around 10 minutes because of a flat tyre—a delay which would have been greater if fellow competitor Rebekah Keat had not given her a spare CO₂ cartridge—she finished some 15 minutes ahead of second-placed Yvonne van Vlerken.^[44]

Leaving TeamTBB[link]

On 27 October, Wellington announced that, together with Hilary Biscay and Belinda Granger, she would be leaving TeamTBB and their coach Brett Sutton to train under new coach Cliff English. She said:

I owe so much to Brett, and TeamTBB. It was Brett that advised me to turn pro, he told me to do an Ironman and he trained me to win two World Ironman Championships. Not only that, the Team framework enabled me to train with some of the best athletes in the world; to grow and develop as a person and to learn some incredibly important lessons. With the Team I reached heights that I never thought possible, and for that I am truly grateful. TeamTBB is focused on helping 'development athletes' who might otherwise not have the opportunity to succeed in professional triathlon. I no longer fit into their framework, and hence the time has come for me to move on.^[45]

Two weeks later, Wellington announced that, instead of Cliff English (fiancé and coach of her rival Samantha McGlone) her new coach would be Simon Lessing.^[46][47]

2009[link]

New world record[link]

Despite suffering from shingles,^[48] Wellington set a new record for ironman-distance triathlon races of 8:31:59 on 12 July 2009 at the Quelle Challenge Roth, beating Yvonne van Vlerken's record set a year earlier over the same course by 13 minutes and 49 seconds. Rebekah Keat, who finished second, 7 minutes 25 seconds behind Wellington, also beat van Vlerken's time. Commentator Timothy Carlson wrote "Superwoman Chrissie Wellington didn’t just break it, she obliterated the one-year-old women's Iron-distance world record today".^[49]

In August, Wellington dropped her coach Simon Lessing to become self-coached.^[50]

Third Ironman world championship and new Hawaii course record[link]

In October, Wellington won the world championship for the third time with a new course record of 8:54:02, beating Paula Newby-Fraser's record of 8:55:28 which had stood since 1992. She finished 19 mins 57 secs ahead of second-place Mirinda Carfrae, the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Champion who, in her first Ironman race, ran a marathon time of 2:56:51, fifty-three seconds faster than Wellington's record of the previous year.^[51] Wellington's victory was described as "stunning" and "even more dominant" than usual.^[52] Only 22 men were faster than Wellington.^[51]

Commenting on Wellington's record, Newby-Fraser said, "But the revelation I had was watching how hard she worked for it ... and it was clear she was going to the well. And I am certain she had to leave a little bit of herself out there to get it done. She didn’t take a moment to enjoy until she crossed the line. Part of me was gratified by that. I know what she had to do to get it and I hope she realizes it's not that easy. I know it wasn't that easy for her. A race like that takes a piece of herself out there."^[53] A year later her coach Dave Scott revealed that she had an upper hamstring injury and that, "Deep down inside, she had a bit of a struggle in 2009." Even though she had broken the long-standing course record, Scott said, "But I knew, and she knew, and I told her in my ever-candid, callous style, that she didn't have her best day."^[54]

2010[link]

Bike crash, surgery and recovery; Ironman 70.3 Kansas[link]

On Saturday 2 January, during an intended 5-hour training ride in the Surrey Hills with her boyfriend and two other friends, Wellington fell from her bicycle when it slipped on black ice.^[55] She fractured her radius, two metacarpals and two fingers in her right arm and hand. She required surgery under general anaesthetic to insert wires (later removed) into her arm and wrist and had to wear a cast on her arm for six weeks.^[56]

The injury severely limited her training, but once the cast was removed she was able to train intensively with her friend Catriona Morrison near Águilas in south-east Spain.^[56] She later acknowledged that the crash was a blessing in disguise, enforcing a mental and physical break and enabling her to focus on other areas of improvement such as her strength and to properly resolve her hamstring problems, which had been hampering her running.^[57]

Wellington returned to competition on 6 June, when she defended her title at Ironman 70.3 Kansas. She won in a time of 4:07:49, more than 16 minutes in front of Pip Taylor, placing 11th overall (10th among the pro men).^[58]

World records at Challenge Roth, but disappointment at Kona[link]

On 18 July Wellington defended her Challenge Roth title in Germany in a new iron-distance world record record time of 8:19:13, placing seventh overall and bettering her own record by more than 12 minutes.^[59] In so doing, she set a new women's record for the bike split of 4:36:33, and then finished the race with a "stunning" 2:48:54 for the marathon, beating Erin Baker's record of 2:49:53 which had stood since 1990.^[59] Only three men recorded a faster marathon run, two of whom were less than a minute faster.^[60] Her winning margin (32:57) over second-placed Rebekah Keat was greater than her time (26:37) behind the winning man.^[61]

After this race, her former coach Brett Sutton wrote, "The triathlon world should be rejoicing. For the first time in the women’s sport and second time in this sport they have a true champion not just a champion of the sport like Erin Baker and Paula Newby Fraser, but also a champion on the level of a Kieren Perkins, a 'Thorpedo' or a Michael Phelps if we look at swimming. If we take a look at running, a Haile Gebrselassie, a Paula Radcliffe." He added, "You have in Chrissie a person of true international sporting excellence that is overshadowed by no one in any other sport."^[4]

In August Wellington set a new course record in her third consecutive victory at Timberman 70.3,^[62] but at the last minute on the day of the Ironman World Championship, 9 October, she decided not to start the race because of illness, describing it as "the hardest decision of her life to date."^[63] Subsequent blood tests, which also included an anti-doping control, showed that she had, or had had, bacterial strep throat, bacterial pneumonia and West Nile virus.^[64]

Official Ironman world record[link]

On 21 November, having allowed herself six weeks to recover from her illness, Welllington set a new world record for an Ironman-branded full distance event in Tempe, Arizona of 8:36:13. Her time was the third-fastest female iron-distance time to date, beaten only by her two records in Roth.^[65] Despite riding the last two miles of the bike course on a flat tyre, she beat the previous course record by 35 minutes, and runner-up Linsey Corbin's time by 29 minutes.^[66] Her marathon time was only 4:44 slower than the fastest men's run, and her swim time only 32 seconds slower than the men's winner, Timo Bracht.^[67] Commentator Timothy Carlson quoted Wellington's boyfriend as saying, "It's a sign of a true champion that she can pick herself up after something as painful as her withdrawal at Hawaii. Six weeks later, all the issues from Hawaii were behind her, and today she was phenomenal", to which Carlson added, "Phenomenal might have been an understatement."^[66]

2011[link]

Two more world records[link]

Having trained in Stellenbosch since mid-February,^[68] Wellington won Ironman South Africa on 10 April in a new "M-dot" world record time of 8:33:56, lowering her own record by a little over 2 minutes. She finished in 8th place overall, nearly 35 minutes ahead of runner-up Rachel Joyce, who in turn broke the previous course record by 8 minutes. Not only did Wellington set new female bike, run and course records, but her marathon time of 2:52:54 was also faster than all of the men.^[69]

In July, Wellington bettered her own iron-distance world record at Challenge Roth by exactly one minute, to 8:18:13. Her marathon time of 2:44:35 was also a new world record. Only four men finished in front of her, and only one man, the winner Andreas Raelert, who also set a new world record, was able to beat her marathon time.^[70]

Regaining the world title[link]

Wellington started the 2011 Ironman World Championship race with a torn pectoral muscle resulting from a bike crash in training two weeks earlier. Other injuries included extensive road rash and bruised hip and elbow. She had to go to hospital due to pain from the torn muscle during swim training on the Tuesday before the race.^[71] The previous Sunday, Wellington had written a blog post in which she referred to Sun Tzu's book The Art of War and elaborated on how war strategy could be applied to triathlon, saying that she hadn't lost her fight because of her injuries and quoting Bella Bayliss's dictum that "It's not a race, it's war."^[72] The torn muscle meant that her swim time was much slower than usual. Unlike previous races, where Wellington dominated on the bike, she remained well behind the leader, finishing the bike stage 21 minutes behind Julie Dibens, but improving to 6th place. Then, as Wellington said, "I purposely went out very hard" on the run, winning with a 2:52:41 run split and an overall time of 8:55:08, less than three minutes in front of Mirinda Carfrae.^[71]

International development[link]

Chrissie Wellington has said she has two passions in life: sport and development.^[7] In her victory speech at the 2007 Hawaii Ironman, she referred to her experience teaching children at a school near Boston, Massachusetts, where she first noticed the difference that sport can make to children's lives. She also noted, from her experience in Nepal, how sport can bring conflict-affected communities together.^[7] In an interview, her coach Brett Sutton said:

She has kicked around for years through South East Asia, working for underprivileged people. That's why she was in Nepal. Already this year she has done clinics in Thailand and the Philippines and now sponsors a young Filipino athlete to attend our group for the coach to work some magic. I think her win could be the catalyst for the sport in South East Asia.

To give you an insight into Chrissie Wellington's mind, her first talk to me about the media and the frenzy around her, was "Boss, I don't want us to lose sight of what we discussed about my goal. I want to be able to use my triathlon result to help develop social programs for underprivileged kids in South East Asia. Any sponsor who does not believe this is a priority, we can do without. If it costs me a little money, I am at ease with that." [...] This is the real Chrissie, the one people don't see behind the flashy smile.^[2]

Reflecting on her victory three weeks later, Wellington wrote:

Anyone that knows me has probably been on the receiving end of one of my rants. Like a stuck record I ramble on about development to anyone that will (pretend to) listen. It is my passion, and has been for a long time. Poverty, conflict, violence, crime, exclusion and so forth are not givens. They happen for a reason. We have the power to change things. And sport is one vehicle for doing so. It has the power to build bridges, to empower, to teach, to heal – this is what triathlon and every other sport should be about. I hope that I [...] can, in a small way, help to inspire people to take up sport, realise their own dreams and their full potential.^[73]

Awards and honours[link]

At an awards ceremony on 23 November 2009, following a four-week online public vote, Chrissie Wellington was announced winner of the 2009 Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.^[74] She was appointed Member of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to Ironman Triathlons" in the 2010 Queen's birthday honours.^[75] In December 2010, having previously awarded her the University's Sporting Achievement Award in 2007, the University of Birmingham granted her an honorary doctorate "as a tribute to her work in both her passions: sport and international development".^[76]

Results[link]

The following table includes a complete list of all Chrissie Wellington's races as a professional triathlete.