Her mother was an inaugural scholarship athlete at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1981 and swam at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, now national 800 metres track champion Brittany McGowan has relocated to Canberra to chase an Australian record that pre-dates it all.
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McGowan will sacrifice the opportunity to run a legal world championship-qualifying time at Friday night's ACT Athletics Championships at the AIS to instead line up in a scratch race against her new coach and respected male middle-distance runner, Philo Saunders, in a bid to break the magic two-minute barrier.
McGowan has proved a natural on the track, having switched from hockey to athletics three years ago and taking out the Australian 800m title last year, making her maiden Commonwealth Games team and dominating this summer's national series.
Now the 23-year-old has her sights fixed on one of Australia's longest-standing athletics records.
Originally coached by Sports Australia Hall of Fame inductee Pat Clohessy, the mentor to marathon champion Rob de Castella at the AIS from 1982-84, McGowan moved from Queensland to Canberra in October to train with Saunders, Australia's middle-distance coach.
Saunders will pace McGowan in Friday night's time trial and, although the mixed race will not count as a legal qualifying time, it is a chance to break through the mental and physical barrier of the two-minute barrier.
"She's been pretty dominant over the 800m this year, so if she ran the 800m she'd just be time-trialling on her own," Saunders said. "This is to see where she's really at and give her confidence that she can run two [minutes] flat in a fast race, which I think she can do.
"There's only a few Australian girls who have done it, so it's definitely the goal to get her under two minutes and eventually have a crack at that Australian record."
The Australian women's 800m record has stood for 39 years, Charlene Rendina's mark of one minute, 59 seconds set in 1976, two years before McGowan's mother, Lynne Prosser, swam at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games.
"Brittany's only been running competitively for three years. She came from playing hockey, she's had a pretty rapid rise to success and there's huge level for improvement," Saunders said.
"I think she could get that Australian record in the next few years if things go well, hopefully make a final at a big championships like the Olympics."
McGowan, a graduate of fashion journalism, said she had come to Canberra looking for a competitive edge. Commonwealth Games 1500m finalist Melissa Duncan has also relocated to Canberra to train with Saunders' squad.
"The race on Friday is more for myself than anything," McGowan said. "Obviously the time's not going to be legal but you've always got to aim higher.
"It's only my second year of running 800s, so it's more about learning how to race the distance so that when we get over to Europe or the States it's not a big shock to the system. Ultimately going under two minutes would be the ultimate dream. It would be out of this world."
The ACT Athletics Championships will be held at the AIS Athletics Track from 6.30pm on Friday and 4pm on Saturday. Canberra's national 400m hurdles champion Lauren Wells will compete 7:40pm Friday.
