PROMISING athlete Chris Mulvaney has always dreamed of representing his country.

Now the runner, who narrowly missed out on going to the Athens Olympics in 2005, is just a step away from his ambition.

But the good-looking 25-year-old, from Chapeltown, will not be representing England on the track.

He is more likely to be strutting up the catwalk in his bid to be crowned “The World’s Most Desirable Man”.

For as well as pursuing a running career, Chris is using his athletic physique to carve out a reputation as a model.

He is hoping to land a place in the grand final of Mr England — a male spin-off of the Miss England beauty pageant — and from there to represent England in the Mr World contest in Seoul, South Korea, with the chance of taking “The World’s Most Desirable Man” title and a $50,000 (£32,000) prize.

It marks a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for determined Chris. He almost died after he was attacked after coming out of a restaurant in the US state of Indiana at the start of last year.

He was in a coma and made a slow six-month recovery and has been left with no sense of taste or smell.

Before then he was one of Britain’s top athletes, only narrowly missing out on the qualifying time for the 1,500 metres to go to the Athens Olympics.

Chris still has hopes of competing in athletics and trains hard. But following the attack, he decided to make good use of his looks too and turned to modelling to earn a living.

Despite only taking up the profession a year ago, Chris is already in demand for photo shoots.

“I am a competitive person and I needed something I could succeed at again,” he said. “In fact, I probably work harder at training now than I did before.”

Training for athletics involves him running twice a day and spending up to three hours in the gym, but the work also hones his physique for the camera.

“I still want to do running and I am training hard each day. I know it is going to be tough,” said Chris.

But his image has so impressed judges in this year’s Mr England competition that he has been chosen to be one of 12 finalists.

“I have never entered anything like this before,” said Chris. “But I have my modelling portfolio online and friends said I should enter.”

The eventual winner will go on to represent England in the Mr World contest at the end of September.

But you do not just have to have a pretty face and nice body to become Mr World. Contestants will be put through a two-week series of events to test their strength, stamina, mental agility and determination to succeed in the face of adversity.

To vote for Chris and find out more about the Mr England competition you can visit the website www.missengland.info/ regionals/mrengland2009 jrowe@theboltonnews.co.uk