birth_place imagesize nationality sport birth_date residence image article_title name collegeteam
riyadh , saudi arabia 200px canadian running 8 august 1983 portland , oregon simonbairu.jpg simon bairu
 simon bairu university of wisconsin
simon bairu

simon bairu -lrb- born 8 august 1983 -rrb- 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 .
he won the first ever miami beach half marathon in december 2011 , and the san jose half marathon in october 2012 .
on september 5th , 2014 , bairu official retired from professional racing .
