Tribute from Coach Chris Wardlaw – Athletics Australia

It is so hard to lose someone like Kerryn McCann. It is hard to understand, especially the impact on Greg and their young family.

I travelled up to visit her a few weeks ago and we went down the street for a coffee. We talked about running and people. Kerryn was always concerned about how other people were going and wanted them do to their best.

At the house, we watched the last 20 minutes of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games marathon together. It had been a joke between the two of us that I had not seen the finish of the race. I was at the 40k mark around ‘The Tan’ and had not realised there was a big screen just a couple of hundred metres from where I was. Even when Kerryn sent a copy of the race to my daughter, Ella, for a talk Ella was doing at school, it stopped half-way through when we played it at home. So I still had not seen the end until I watched it with Kerryn that day. As a parting word she promised me a copy!

That day Kerryn showed all the characteristics we have come to know and love about her. Selfless, a genuine interest in, and concern for, others, and she was so positive. I just believed her.

These qualities, and others, made Kerryn one of the gang when it came to teams. She was loved by all her contemporaries across the board _ ‘Mona’, Benita, Troopie, Rod De Highden, Sean Quilty. As part of the team arrangements for Sydney, we asked all the athletes who they wanted to share a house with in the Village. Kerryn was the most popular choice. She shared a house with Cathy Freeman, who I know adored Kerryn as did so many others.

Kerryn never let her ego run away with itself. I can remember being annoyed when she was not an automatic selection in the 5000 metres in the team for the 2001 world championships in Edmonton. She did not want to run the marathon but I thought her Australian record 15:08 should get her in. I rang Brian Roe and was very upset. Kerryn just took it in her stride and, I think, humored me about my concern.

But what a distance runner she was! The 5000 record (set a couple of weeks before the Sydney Olympics) was an example of how she lead the pack for a long time. She was a top 20 finisher in a world cross-country; she ran all the major championships and her performance in the Sydney 2000 marathon was a great competitive run in a master-class race. She still holds the Australian half-marathon record and Benita, or anyone else, will have to run very hard to get it!

Kerryn has longevity and a great record of times and performances and is respected by her peers. This makes her stand out among our very best men and women distance runners.

She mixed with the world elite, but Kerryn had her running mates in Wollongong and was always helping them. And family commitment goes unsaid. Greg is a really terrific guy who supported her all the way. He was great with me and helped make coaching Kerryn a joy.

Of course, Kerry’s personality was the major factor in making her easy to coach. A little joke she often shared with Troopie summed up her attitude. She would say: "Troopie! As ‘Rab’ has said to me a couple of times,'you are thinking too much!' " Kerryn was so 'coachable'. Like Mona, she was a dream to coach.

Kerryn touched so many people through her performances, especially at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. At a personal level, she always gave my daughter, Ella, some item from her team uniform. It seems so unfair that she is taken from us prematurely, but she has left us much to cherish and remember.

Chris Wardlaw