2 August 2022
Last week we heard the sad news that Simon Beresford, the first person with Down’s syndrome to complete the London Marathon, passed away after a short illness.
Simon was a truly inspirational person who will be sorely missed by all his family and friends. We wanted to share a little of his amazing story with you.
In 2006 Simon had been a regular gym goer in his home town of Lichfield and had completed various 5k and 10k races but dreamed of a bigger challenge.
Simon knew that he would need the help of an experienced runner to get himself ready. John Dawson, as a veteran of 219 marathons (at that time) certainly had the experience to help Simon, and after meeting his father Dave and hearing Simon’s story, offered to help him train.
Having begun their training in June, by Christmas Simon was regularly doing long runs of 12-15miles. In the new year the pair continued to build on this distance, and were soon up to 18-20 mile runs, as well as doing some serious fundraising in their spare time.
In April 2007 Simon completed the London Marathon in just over six hours and raised a huge amount for the DSA.
He then celebrated his 40th birthday by running the Berlin Marathon, narrowly missing out on breaking the 6-hour mark by one minute.
Then in 2008 Simon, along with his friend and training partner John, lined up to run the London Marathon again and he managed to smash the six-hour barrier by completing the course in 5 hours and 44 minutes.
Also in 2008, the DSA were invited to a party at 10 Downing Street hosted by Sarah Brown. Simon was one of the group that attended.
In 2012 he carried the Paralympic torch.
Simon continued to run marathons and had competed in eight by 2017 when he won a Points of Light Award.
In 2017 Simon was also featured in a BBC World Service programme which looked back over Simon’s achievements. Listen to the programme here.
Everyone at the DSA send their deepest condolences to all of Simon’s family and friends.