Don't get me wrong here. I haven't over the years been friends with Kerryn as closely as we were in 1989, at a time I told her she would go on to compete in possibly several Olympics (she competed in three, 1996, 2000, 2004) and would certainly claim a medal, if not gold, in the Commonwealth Games; she won two gold medals, in 2002 and 2006, and it was not long after that that she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was beaten, but re-emerged in other parts of her slim athletic body. So I'm not seeking personal sympathy here, but just relating the tragic death of a relatively young woman, who was not only a great athlete, but a great human being, and once upon a time a friend.
Kerryn Mc Cann.
This clip from the local paper partly encapsulates Kerryn's real character as described by her mother:
Kerryn McCann's mother reveals her anguish
The mother of Kerryn McCann said her daughter amazed her more in the final weeks of her life than in any race she ever won.
"Kerryn was amazing. The way she handled herself, her strength, her concern for everyone else. She did all she could to stay here, for her kids and for her family," Judy Hindmarsh said yesterday.
Mrs Hindmarsh, 66, suffered a parent's cruellest blow for a second time, after losing her son Darren who was killed in a car accident in 1993.
"When Darren died ... I thought that was the worst thing that could happen to me .... nothing could be worse than this," she said, fighting tears. "Now two of my children are gone."
Kerryn, an Olympian and Commonwealth Games dual gold medallist, died at her Coledale home on Sunday night, aged 41, after a battle with cancer. Her family, including husband Greg and three young children Benton, 11, Josie, 5, and Cooper, 15 months, were by her side.
Yesterday, the family regrouped at the seaside home, supporting each other with love.
Amid the sorrow, happy memories were shared of a shy, skinny little girl who grew to become a champion.
Kerryn Anne Hindmarsh was born on May 2, 1967, at Bulli Hospital, catching the doctors off guard with the speed in which she entered the world.
"We left home just before lunch and she was born at 1.30pm. The doctors never made it ... she was born quick as that, it was just me and the sister," Mrs Hindmarsh said.
She caused her first public stir at 18 months when she climbed a slippery dip and teetered at the top, much to the shock of her mum's tennis group.
"Someone called out, 'Who owns the little girl in the pink dress?'," Mrs Hindmarsh recalled.
"I turned to see Kerryn at the top of the slippery dip. I told everyone, 'She's all right'.
"She'd followed Darren up. He was 17 months older and she was always right behind him."
At 10 Kerryn's interest in athletics was fostered by a teacher at Bulli Public School, Darryl Sharpe, who put Kerryn through her paces during her lunch break and encouraged the family to join the now defunct Coledale Joggers.
"Her first major win in the NSW cross country championships came as a shock.
"It was at Dapto and all these kids were turning up in tracksuits with medals and ribbons.
"Kerryn had this one old tracksuit top with jeans and a sloppy joe. She was only small, shorter than everyone else, and it was the seniors race, 5th and 6th class.
"I thought, 'These girls all look good, I hope she doesn't get disappointed'. They went up and out of sight and then we caught sight of a group of girls and I didn't see her anywhere.
"Then she sprang out of the bushes ahead of everyone else!"
Mrs Hindmarsh said she wasn't sure where Kerryn got her athletic ability from, but her older brother was also very athletic.
"Darren was a great soccer player and tennis player. He could have played anything but he never wanted to be a great star," she said.
Darren, 27, was killed instantly after being hit by a car while walking along Lawrence Hargrave Dr at Coledale in the early hours of March 20, 1993.
An 18-year-old Thirroul youth was sentenced to nine months jail for the crime.
At the time of Darren's death, Kerryn was in London for the World Cup Cross Country Championships.
"With the time difference we worked out when she would compete in the relay. We decided to leave her to run the team event before we called her," Mrs Hindmarsh said.
"She told me afterwards that when she got the news about Darren, she went running in the middle of the night. 'I just wanted to go out and run as fast as I could somewhere,' she said."
Kerryn later admitted that whenever she raced, thoughts of her brother were never far away.
One of those occasions was her gold medal win at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Mrs Hindmarsh said she never became overwhelmed by the fact her daughter was representing her country.
"It wasn't in my mind, this is the Commonwealth Games, it was 'Come on Kerryn'. I was just barracking for her," Mrs Hindmarsh said.
"My greatest pride in Kerryn was not so much for the athlete, but for her qualities as a person, her ability as a loving mother.
"When she celebrated the win in Melbourne, I like the fact she made it about mum and dad and the kids. She was a good role model."
Mrs Hindmarsh, who has a third child, mother of two Jenny Gillard, said the hardest part was that three young children would grow up without their mother.
"This is about three little kids who don't have their mum and it breaks my heart."
I watched Kerryn in those days when she was Kerryn Hindmarsh, as a Little Athletics champion, and a budding future Olympian, running with her trademark long blonde hair waving in the wind, and knew she was going to go a long way if she stuck with the sport, which she did, and I often encouraged her, which she appreciated when I trained with her in 1989. Her husband and family always came first, and she was a generous, kind-hearted and humble human being. Fame disturbed her natural shyness at times, and she was more at home as one of the common people rather than as a sporting superstar. The world hasn't only lost a great athlete, but a great human being. I no longer so much ask "why", because death is no respecter of persons. All I can hopefully say is, "Let it be, there will be an answer."
Vale Kerryn Mc Cann: 1967-2008
>
>
>
>