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McCann Surges In Road Ratings With Bridge Win
16 September 2002, by Mike HurstCommonwealth marathon champion Kerryn McCann celebrated her son's fifth birthday yesterday by winning The Sunday Telegraph 10km Bridge Run. McCann, 35, also moved into second place behind Manchester Games 10,000m bronze medallist Susie Power on the Australian 10km road rankings with her winning time of 32min 19sec, just 4sec slower than Power's Bridge Run record.
On a still Sydney morning, with son Benton and husband Greg waiting at the finish line at Fox Studios, McCann admits she got a little carried away near the head of a 11,000 field.
"It's a really good course. I ran 15min 40sec at 5km and I thought, 'Wow, I'm going to go really well here'. But I died a bit," McCann said. "I ran well, I ran strong, but I probably should have taken it a bit easier at the start."
As it worked out though McCann still moved ahead of Games track stars Benita Johnson and Haley McGregor on the road rankings compiled by Sydney Olympic marathon race director Dave Cundy.
McCann, from Coledale near Wollongong, will now race a half-marathon in Scotland before tackling the New York marathon on November 3, perhaps her last race for a while if she succeeds in providing Benton with a playmate.
Liz Miller, 38, who has two children already, moved up to sixth on the rankings, running second in 33min 51sec yesterday and fellow Sydneysider Suzy Walsham was third in 36min 10sec.
New Zealander Damon Harris, 27, an archivist for Sydney Water, ran himself into the record book by lopping 8sec off the race best in winning the Bridge Run in 29min 45sec, a 40sec personal best for the distance on a course he described as brilliant. Harris won the inaugural Flora Sydney Marathon last year but his coach Sean Williams is setting him for the 1500m on the track this summer. "I've lived in Australia for 16 years and my coach is pushing me now to become an Australian citizen," revealed Harris.
Canberra's Erwin McRae, 26, ran second in 30min 10sec, just 1sec ahead of Tanzania's Samwel Mwera, 17, the world junior 1500m bronze medallist.
Grant Buckley, 17, from Revesby, retained the wheelchair title ahead of fellow schoolboy Patrick Baker, 14, from Narrabeen, and Ron Gibson, 30, from Wentworthville.
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