Simon Lawson

Date of Birth	7 June 1982
Age	42
Place of Birth	Whitehaven
Commonwealth Appearances
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Simon Lawson’s sporting career could be summed up thusly: if it has wheels and goes fast there’s a very good chance he’ll excel.  

Lawson stormed to a brilliant bronze medal in the men's wheelchair marathon, joining teammate JohnBoy Smith on the podium.

The son of former professional speedway rider Steve Lawson grew up riding BMX bikes before taking up the family business, becoming a junior British Speedway champion before a crash in 2001 that paralysed him from the chest down.  

He turned to wheelchair marathon and by 2015 was the second-fastest Brit at the London Marathon, finishing behind only Paralympic legend and role model David Weir, who also pipped him for gold at that year’s Great North Run, where Lawson took silver. 

The Rio 2016 Paralympics did not go Lawson’s way after his hydration system burst before the start of the race, which he believes led to his 14th-place finish in the T54/T53 wheelchair marathon. 

But Lawson bounced back, setting a British record time of 1:25:06 at the Boston Marathon in 2017 and winning the Great North Run for the first time that year. Then, in 2018, he claimed T54 marathon bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. 

Lawson still avidly follows speedway and motocross, and documents his adventures with his Jack Russell Terrier, Ezra, on Instagram.