Now, she is a seriously competitive multisporter and has spent the past four months crushing her rivals with the vigour of someone who has given herself a jolly good kick upstairs.
She races as often as she can, with her wins including some of the gnarliest races: the two-day individual Coast to Coast, the three-day Goldrush, the 125km Contact Epic mountain bike race and the 31km Carricktown Crusher.
Success has taken her by surprise.
Mention her winning streak and she laughs, sounding almost guilty.
"I didn't know I would be [competitive]," she protests.
"But I know I am now."
Kelly began training seriously only a year ago, encouraged by Ettrick athletes Tracey Pringle and Michael Wright.
She began dabbling in the sport about three years ago, but didn't really get going until she kicked a two-pack-a-day smoking habit and curbed her love for the bottle.
Raised and schooled in Ettrick, Kelly didn't have the sporting opportunities offered to city kids and feels if she had, she might have taken up multisport sooner.
"But running is something I have always done. Even when smoking and drinking, I always used to go for a run for the good of my health. But now I go a lot further," she said.
She showed an early interest in cycling and, aged 15, bought a road bike, riding it a few times when she lived in Dunedin.
It wasn't until her brother-in-law, who was working in Iraq, decided to buy a kayak that she thought about multisport.
In the end, he stayed in Iraq and his boat was collecting dust.
So Kelly decided to borrow it and make February's two-day Coast to Coast her goal.
She won in a time of 13hr 14 min 59 sec, taking the lead on the second day and finishing 50 minutes clear of her closest rival.
Kelly has been able to return the borrowed kayak because her prize package included a new one, a handy thing to win as the amount and cost of gear needed to compete in multisport can be phenomenal.
Kelly is now riding her second mountain bike in three years.
Gone is her old road bike, replaced by a racier model.
She has spent so many thousands of dollars on bikes, wheels and bike parts she jokes she must keep her supplier, Cycle World, in business.
Kelly rates her performance in February's Coast to Coast as her career best so far and has made the one-day race her ultimate goal.
