, who won the award in 2005|alt=Head-and-torso photograph of Geoff Thomas standing in a lecture room wearing a grey chalk-stripe suit and waistcoat, and an open collared blue shirt The inaugural recipient of the award was
horse trainer Jenny Pitman, in 1999. Other winners include South African
Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who won the award in 2007. Several recipients have not played a sport professionally, including
Jane Tomlinson, who won in 2002,
Kirsty Howard (2004), Phil Packer (2009),
Anne Williams, who received the award posthumously in 2013, and eight-year-old
Bailey Matthews (2015).
Michael Watson, who won the award in 2003, had a career in boxing but was paralysed and almost killed in a title bout with
Chris Eubank. He won the award for completing the
London Marathon, an accomplishment that took him six days. Former footballer
Geoff Thomas won the award in 2005; he raised money by cycling the 2,200 miles (3,540.56 km) of the
2005 Tour de France course in the same number of days as the professionals completed it. In 2006,
Paul Hunter posthumously received the award; he died from dozens of
malignant neuroendocrine tumours – his widow Lindsay accepted the award on his behalf. ==Winners==