A veteran from Salisbury who raised over £500,000 for over 40 charities has won a Sporting Excellence Award.
Sally Orange won the publicly-voted award at the Soldiering On Awards on Thursday (October 27).
It was the 12th annual awards ceremony and it took place at the Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge.
Sally completed 22 years of exemplary service in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a physiotherapy officer before being medically discharged in 2019. She said: "Sport has been a real saviour in my own bumpy journey with depression and anxiety and I am extremely passionate about breaking down the stigma associated with poor mental health."
Read more: House of Perfection beauty salon opens in Amesbury
The Guinness World Record holder has completed over 70 marathons, eight Ironman triathlons, Race Across America, and has run the toughest footrace on earth.
For 46 of the 70 marathons Sally has run, she was dressed as a piece of fruit. She's completed a marathon on every continent as a different fruit.
Sally wants people to see that sport doesn't have to be about being the fastest or fittest, it can be about "getting outside, having fun and raising money for charity", she added: "I'm incredibly honoured to have been selected as the winner, particularly given it was a public vote.
"Dressing as fruit to run marathons makes people smile, closely followed by the question 'Why?'. When I tell them of my aim, it starts a conversation about mental health in a non threatening way."
Throughout her years of running, cycling, swimming, and skydiving, Sally has raised over £500,000 for 40 different charities.
Her latest challenge was to complete 7km a day for 70 days to honour every year of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Sally has spoken out about the difficulties she has faced with severe depression and chronic anxiety in novel ways.
She reflected on the highs and lows of the nation's mental health inside a London Eye pod. Sally also ran an underground marathon in a mine to show how you never know what's going on beneath the surface in someone else's mind.
For more visit sallyorange.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here