Simon Bairu

Simon Bairu (born 8 August 1983) is a Canadian long-distance runner.

Simon Bairu
Personal information
NationalityCanadian
Born (1983-08-08) 8 August 1983
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Sport
SportRunning
College teamUniversity of Wisconsin

Early life

Bairu was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to an Ethiopian mother and an Eritrean father.[1] He grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada where his family moved to when he was three years old.

Career

Bairu attended Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School, where he flourished as a provincial and then national level track and field athlete. He then attended the University of Wisconsin[2] where he was guided by coach Jerry Schumacher to win two NCAA cross-country titles.

As a post-collegiate, Bairu moved to Portland, Oregon to train with the Bowerman Track Club, a professional athletics group founded by Schumacher that was originally formed primarily by Wisconsin teammates, such as Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp, Evan Jager and Tim Nelson.

In 2010, Bairu placed 12th at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, as well as set a 10,000 m Canadian national record of 27:23.63 minutes at Stanford (this record was bettered by Cameron Levins in 2013). Over his career, Bairu won a record seven Canadian Cross Country Championship titles. Additionally, he also won the inaugural Miami Beach Half Marathon in December 2011,[3] as well as the San Jose Half Marathon in October 2012.[4]

Bairu officially retired from professional racing in September 2014.[5]

Personal bests
Surface Event Time (m:s) Venue Date
Track 3000 m7:49.20Gent, Belgium7 July 2007
5000 m13:25.91Heusden-Zolder, Belgium28 July 2007
10,000 m27:23.63Palo Alto, USA1 May 2010
Road 10 km28:30Ottawa, Ontario, Canada26 May 2007
Half marathon1:02:08Philadelphia, USA19 September 2010
  • All information taken from IAAF profile.

See also

References
  1. "The Official Website of Simon Bairu". SimonBairu.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  2. "Taking the long way: Bairu makes run at Olympic bid in marathon". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  3. Flanagan, with sights on London qualification, runs 1:09:58 in Miami Beach. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-12-16.
  4. Simon Bairu Wins Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon Archived 2012-10-24 at the Wayback Machine Added 2012-10-07
  5. Simon Bairu retires from professional racing


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