Achievements

In memory of Sherilyn Jean White
1 October 1969-7 February 1988

ACA Club is honoured to present the annual Sherilyn White Memorial Award to a junior woman athlete of outstanding promise. The award, worth $1000, is made from the Sherilyn White St Cuthbert’s Trust.

The Trust was established in 1991 by Ron and Jenny White  in memory of their 18-year-old daughter Sherilyn White who collapsed while competing in the New Zealand Long Course triathlon championships on 7 February 1988, and died soon afterwards.  

Sherilyn, her sister Deanne and their father joined the Owairaka Athletic and Harrier Club (now ACA) in 1978. Sherilyn progressed steadily through the age grades in all disciplines, showing particular ability in cross country events, and represented Auckland for the first time as a fourteen-year-old. In 1984 Sherilyn competed in her first triathlon, finishing second in the Auckland Secondary Schools Championship. Three years later she won all five events for secondary school triathletes in the Auckland area and was second at the national championships. Regarded as one of New Zealand’s most promising young athletes, Sherilyn was voted 1987 Auckland Triathlete of the Year, and was posthumously named the 1988 New Zealand Secondary School Female Triathlete of the Year.

Her discipline, determination and energy gained Sherilyn success in other areas too. Lifesaving, netball, hockey, speech and drama, the School Choir, several leadership roles and her studies fill the impressive testimonial she received when she left St Cuthbert’s College at the end of 1987. The College also noted Sherilyn’s warmth, charm and sense of fun, which attracted a very wide circle of friends. As then-principal Miss Joan Holland said, “Sherilyn is part of our lives. There are other criteria for measuring a life as well as its duration – quality and intensity. As she lives on in us, she transmits permanently something of what she was.”

This lovely, gifted girl on the cusp of adulthood did not have the opportunity to fulfil her promise as an athlete, but the award established in her memory allows other young women to carry on with their sport. With the generous support of her family and the Trust, the spirit of Sherilyn White keeps running more than 20 years after her death.

Recent recipients of the Sherilyn White Memorial Award have been: