Three share 'Women of the Year' award

Ellen McArthur captured the world's imagination

Yachtswoman Ellen McArthur, Paddington rail disaster survivor Pam Warren and Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin have been jointly awarded the 2001 Women of the Year title.

The three women were named as this year's recipients at an award ceremony in London on Monday, hosted by newsreader Moira Stewart.

The Women of Year Lunch and Assembly is the UK's largest gathering celebrating the achievements of women and was founded in 1955 by peace campaigner Tony Lothian.

Marie Colvin was injured earlier this year

At the event it was also announced that a Women of the Year Foundation was being launched to help women pursue their ambitions with financial and practical assistance.

Miss MacArthur, from Derbyshire, captured people's hearts and imaginations when she came second in the Vendee Globe Race between November 2000 and February 2001.

She was one of only two women on the starting grid and the youngest competitor in the race's history.

Her ordeal has been likened to combining the risk of an Everest expedition, the physical demands of a daily triathlon and the piloting skills of a Formula One driver.

Fireball

She was awarded the Cable Industry Outstanding Achievement Award.

Mrs Warren, from Reading, Berkshire, was once a successful pensions adviser with her own business.

Her life was changed irrevocably on 5 October 1999 when she caught the doomed First Great Western express to Paddington.

Her face and hands were badly burnt in the fireball that engulfed carriage H of the train.

Pam Warren was given a 50% chance of recovery

She was unconscious for three weeks after the crash and was only given a 50% chance of recovery. She was forced to wear a face mask for months to protect her injuries.

She has since helped set up the Paddington Survivors' Group, which campaigned to improve rail safety, and became its spokeswoman.

At the lunch she received the Frink Award for disabled women who have achieved excellence in their field.

Ms Colvin, who was born and raised in New York, is the award-winning war correspondent for The Sunday Times.

Since becoming a war correspondent she has covered conflicts in the Balkans, Chechnya and East Timor, where she helped to save the lives of 1,500 women and children besieged in a compound by Indonesian troops.

Earlier this year she was hit by fire from government troops as she returned at night from an unauthorised tour of rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka.

She was the first foreign reporter to enter the Tamil-held territory since 1995.

She was awarded the Pilkington Window to the World Award.