Kerryn McCann

Kerryn McCann (born 2 May 1967) is an Australian athlete, and is one of Australia's most successful long-distance runners.

McCann was born in Bulli, New South Wales in 1967. She had an early interest in athletics, winning the New South Wales primary school cross country championship in 1979. However, McCann gave up competitive athletics until taking it up again near the end of high school, running her first marathon at the age of seventeen.

McCann won her first Australian championship events in 1988, placing first in the one mile race, and first in the marathon, having previously come third in the marathon in 1986. McCann has subsequently won Australian championships in cross country (1992 and 1999), 10,000 metres (in 2002) and again in the marathon in 1993.cite web | title=Kerryn McCann | work=Athletics Australia | url=http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/kerryn_mccann | accessdate=2007-08-08]

In 1991 McCann married husband Greg, a surfer who represented Australia twice in international competition, and was Australian champion in 1983. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada McCann placed tenth in the marathon, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States she finished 28th.

McCann's first child, a son, was born in 1997. McCann took a break from professional competition in 1998, but returned in 1999. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, McCann finished eleventh in the marathon. Later in the year she placed fifth in the London Marathon, in a time of 2:25.59, her personal best and an Australian record. She achieved a seventh place in the New York Marathon in 2002. McCann's best result in international competition came later in 2002 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, where she won gold ahead of fellow Australians Krishna Stanton and Jackie Gallagher.cite news | first=John | last=Haughey | title=Marathon clean sweep for Aussies | date=July 28, 2002 | publisher=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/commonwealthgames2002/hi/athletics/newsid_2156000/2156982.stm]

In 2003, McCann's second child, a daughter, was born. McCann again took a break from competition, before commencing training in late 2003 and returning to competition in 2004, competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, finishing 31st in the marathon.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, at the age of thirty-eight, McCann defended her Commonwealth title, winning gold in the marathon in a time of 2:30:54, just two seconds ahead of Kenyan Hellen Cherono Koskei. The time was her second best result ever in marathons.cite web | title=Final Women's Marathon | work=Melbourne 2006 | url=http://melbourne2006.com.au/Schedule%20and%20Results/By%20Sport/Athletics/Sun%2019%20Mar/Results/Result%20-%20AT1099E0100001?ScheduleItemID=28953
accessdate=2006-03-19] The lead changed six times in the final two kilometres of the race, before McCann pulled clear in the final two hundred metres around the athletics track inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground. McCann described the race as "probably the greatest victory I've ever had, or the greatest race I've ever run."cite news | first=Dan | last=Harrison | title=McCann wins marathon | date=March 19, 2006 | publisher=The Age | url=http://theage.com.au/news/athletics/mccann-wins-marathon/2006/03/19/1142703195969.html]

In August 2007 it was announced that McCann, who was expecting her third child at the time, was also battling breast cancer. [cite news | title=Marathon champ's cancer battle| date=August 24, 2007 | publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/marathon-champs-cancer-battle/2007/08/24/1187462510524.html] She subsequently gave birth to her second son six weeks early. 2007. [cite news | title=Boy for McCann, chemo next| date=September 7, 2007 | publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/boy-for-mccann-chemo-next/2007/09/06/1188783414574.html] She now has liver cancer (announced 22nd Sept. 2008).

Personal bests

* 5000 metres: 15:08.69 (2000 - Australian record)
* Half marathon: 1:07.48 (2000 - Australian record)
* Marathon: 2:25.59 (2000)

References

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