My biggest honour so far in my career is being selected to represent Team GB in the Rio Paralympic games 2016 in the mens T54/ T53 wheelchair marathon
Simon Lawson is a 35 year old T53 Wheelchair athlete from Cumbria.
My biggest honour so far in my Career is being selected to represent Team GB in the Rio Paralympic games 2016 in the mens T54/ T53 wheelchair marathon. The race did not go to plan and finished 14th after a technical problem, my hydration system burst before the start of the race and had to complete the marathon with no hydration in the 38 degrees heat! So I came away from Rio very disappointed.
After the disappointment of Rio I finished of the season competing in the Abbott World Marathon majors – Berlin marathon, Chicago Marathon and New York marathon finishing 6th 8th and 6th and in close contention to the top places in all three races.
“For 2017 I got the support of the GLL Sport Foundation which has been a massive help to me! I’ve been able to hire a new strength and conditioning coach and go on a warm weather training camp where I was able to get out on the roads and put a lot of quality mile sin good conditions that I could not get at home with the winter weather, which has really lifted my game this year!”
I started of the season with a Podium in the Lisbon Half marathon with 3rd position in a sprint finish between the top 3 guys missing out on the win by less than 1 second.
After Lisbon I competed in the Boston marathon and came away with a personal best time and also set a new British record for Wheelchair marathon in a time of 1 hour 25 minutes and 6 seconds.
6 days later I competed in the London marathon and I was in great position in the leading group until 17 miles when I had a collision with another athlete and crashed, unfortunately cracking a bone in my wrist which put me out of action for 6 weeks.
Now I am fully fit again and training towards September where I will compete in the Great North Run and Berlin marathon, October the Chicago marathon and New York marathon in November.
This season has had it’s ups and downs so far but I’m looking forward to finishing off the season in the best way I can.
Simon has not had an easy journey, but has been resilient and is determined to keep going and hopefully he will be rewarded for his efforts out in Tokyo 2020.
