Simon Bairu
Canadian long-distance runner born in Saudi Arabia
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Biography
Simon Bairu (born 8 August 1983) is a former Canadian long-distance runner born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to an Ethiopian mother and an Eritrean father. After a short stint in Athens, Greece, he moved with his family to Canada at the age of three and was raised in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Simon attended Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School, where he flourished at the provincial and national level running scene. Bairu attended the University of Wisconsin, where he was guided by his current coach, Jerry Schumacher, to two NCAA cross-country titles amongst his many running accolades.
Bairu currently trains out of Portland, Oregon, with coach Schumacher as well as Wisconsin teammates Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp and Tim Nelson. He had a 12th-place finish at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and set a 10,000 m Canadian national record of 27:23.63 minutes in Stanford that year. The 10k record was bettered by Cameron Levins in 2013. Bairu won a record seven Canadian Cross Country Championship titles.
He won the first ever Miami Beach Half Marathon in December 2011, and the San Jose Half Marathon in October 2012.
On September 5, 2014, Bairu official retired from professional racing.
Personal bests
| Surface | Event | Time (m:s) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Track | 3000 m | 7:49.20 | Gent, Belgium | 7 July 2007 |
| 5000 m | 13:25.91 | Heusden-Zolder, Belgium | 28 July 2007 | |
| 10,000 m | 27:23.63 | Palo Alto, USA | 1 May 2010 | |
| Road | 10 km | 28:30 | Ottawa, Canada | 26 May 2007 |
| Half marathon | 1:02:08 | Philadelphia, USA | 19 September 2010 |
- All information taken from IAAF profile.