Marathon runner McCann dies
Monday, December 8, 2008 - 12:32 PM


Dual Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist Kerryn McCann has died from cancer.

McCann was first diagnosed with breast cancer in August last year while she was pregnant with her third child.

She finished a course of chemotherapy in January this year but was then diagnosed with a secondary cancer in her liver.

McCann passed away at her home near Wollongong on the New South Wales south coast overnight, surrounded by her family.

She was 41.

She is survived by her husband Greg and their children Benton (11), Josie (5) and Cooper (14 months).

McCann won Commonwealth gold medals in the marathon at Melbourne in 2006 and Manchester in 2002.

"On behalf of the entire athletics community, I would like to pass on my sincere condolences to the McCann family," Athletics Australia President Rob Fildes said in a statement.

"Kerryn will fondly be remembered for being an extremely popular team member who represented her country on 14 occasions, across an athletics career that spanned 22 years."

Olympic great and breast cancer survivor Raelene Boyle said McCann was very courageous during her illness.

"Kerryn was a very strong person, very quiet, private, good mother, loving wife, a really nice, ordinary person who had an extraordinary talent to be able to, in my mind, stupidly, run marathons," she said.

"I mean if you had the choice you'd runs sprints wouldn't you, but she had this extraordinary talent and we'll never forget her."

Boyle said McCann did not let her illness depress her.

"One of the good things that Kerryn did, was she knew she was in real trouble right from the start, she knew it, but she got on with her life," Boyle said.

"She wanted to do it privately and she and Greg coped very well and they did the hard yards and the sad times together and they didn't really want to go into a public form of grief."

Former fellow marathon runner and coach Pat Carroll knew McCann for many years.

"To think that it's only two years ago [that she won in Melbourne]," he said.

"I mean we think about sport heroes as being immortal and you don't think that such a short time after achieving such a great feat only two years ago, that something so tragic would happen to someone like Kerryn.

"Distance running is an incredibly tough sport with the training you do.

"You're out there in the marathon for over two hours or two-and-a-half hours.

"You do do a lot of soul-searching and you've really got to reach within, and no doubt she tried her hardest to beat this illness.

"But I can assure you that the main reason she would have been trying to beat it is to be with her children.

"She was an extremely loving mother and I think that one thing I will always remember her for is the love she shared for her family."

McCann provided one of the most memorable moments of the Melbourne Games, duelling with Kenyan Hellen Cherono in the last three kilometres as they approached the MCG.

McCann was lifted by a roaring capacity home crowd in the stadium and pulled away over the closing 300m to defend the title she claimed in Manchester.

"I think Kerryn herself said she had decided that silver would be fine for her and they were running across the bridge and about to come into the MCG and she thought `no, I can win this'," Boyle said.

"She won it by just metres after running 42 kilometres - a very brave woman."

Monday, December 8, 2008 - 1:46 PM

It's impossible not to feel the pain of Kerryn McCann's family as everyone tries to comprehend the fact that our much loved dual Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist is no longer with us.

Her death from cancer has shocked the sporting world and surely must affect every Australian.

We are living constantly with the horror of breast cancer and the impact that it has on everyone affected by it.

Kerryn's death intensifies the impact that it can have.

Kerryn McCann represented life, lived to the fullest. When she ran into the packed MCG at the end of a gruelling Melbourne Commonwealth Games marathon in Melbourne in 2006, everyone wanted to be there.

Those who were lucky enough experienced one of the greatest moments in Australia's Commonwealth Games history.

Those listening to David Morrow's excited call on ABC Radio couldn't help but feel tingles down the spine and David's call was enhanced by the screaming support of the huge crowd in the MCG for a jubilant Kerryn.

It was a magic moment for everyone.

Few people get to do what Kerryn McCann did that day.

She had every Australian watching or listening feeling an enormous thrill of excitement and pride.

It was her moment but as she shared it with her family, everybody felt that they were celebrating with her.

She had been such an inspirational sportswoman. Always a fine athlete, she became even better as she got older.

Wonderful run


She took a break from competition when her first child was born but was back and running amazingly well at the Sydney Olympic Games, where she was a very creditable 11th in the marathon.

That was the beginning of a wonderful run of performances that culminated in her magnificent gold medal at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Family was still important and she again interrupted her athletic career with the birth of her second child.

When the Melbourne Commonwealth Games came around, she was ready to defend her title.

But she was 38, the mother of two children. Surely she couldn't do it again.

But she did and the way that she did it, struggling to shake off the Kenyan Hellen Cherono in the last few kilometres and finding the Kenyan wouldn't let go.

When they ran into the MCG the crowd roared. They were roaring for Kerryn.

She responded in the best way she knew, finding incredible strength to race clear and go on and win the gold medal.

The moment was hers but we all wanted to share it with her.

That was only a bit more than two years ago. It's difficult to reconcile the fact that she could be taken from us altogether. Yet that is the case.

Kerryn will live on in our minds and hearts. She gave us something very special.

She showed humility, great love for her family and tremendous pride in her country. We can never thank her enough.

Her death will have more positive effects on the community. We've all heard the appeals for support of research into breast cancer.

The deaths of brave women such as Jane McGrath and Kim Walters have given us inspiration to donate and do all we can to help the cause.

Now we have another powerful motivation to support breast-cancer research campaigns.

We know Kerryn's family are the people who are feeling it the most but surely there is not an Australian who is not touched by this tragic loss.

In Melbourne Kerryn McCann was ours. She was our hero, our countrywoman, seemingly our friend.

She deserves to be remembered and she will be.

She will be an inspiration for more people to donate to breast cancer research because the world would be a much better place if we could have continued to be inspired by a person as inspirational as Kerryn McCann.

My feelings today was of sadness of a inspirational person Kerryn McCann was as a sportsperson and a mother against all odds. It hits close to home after my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. My mum has since been in remission which is good news for us. Very Sad Day. Rest in Peace Kerryn McCann