Simon Bairu is a Canadian long distance runner born in Riyadh

Riyadh

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...

, Saudi Arabia. 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

Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...

.

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

Jerry Schumacher

Jerry Schumacher is an American coach for the sport of track and field, specializing in distance running. He has coached Olympic bronze medalist and the American women's 10k record holder Shalane Flanagan, the former men's American 10k record holder Chris Solinsky, the men's American two mile...

, to two NCAA cross-country titles amongst his many running accolades.

Bairu currently trains out of Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 with coach Schumacher as well as Wisconsin teammates Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp and Tim Nelson. His recent accomplishments include a 13th place finish at the 38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships, as well as a 10,000m national record of 27:23.63 (Stanford, 2010).

Personal bests

Surface	Event	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Venue	Date
Track	3000 m	7:49.20	Gent Ghent Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of... , Belgium	7 July 2007
	5000 m	13:25.91	Heusden-Zolder Heusden-Zolder Heusden-Zolder is a municipality located in the Belgian province of province of Limburg near Hasselt. On 1 January 2006 Heusden-Zolder had a total population of 30,769... , Belgium	28 July 2007
	10,000 m	27:23.63	Palo Alto, USA	1 May 2010
Road	10 km	28:30	Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario... , Canada	26 May 2007
	Half marathon Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...	1:02:08	Philadelphia, USA	19 September 2010

• All information taken from IAAF profile.