Callum Robert Hawkins (born 22 June 1992) is a British

distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

, who competed in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. He is the Scottish record holder in the marathon and the British all-time number three at that distance behind

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

and Steve Jones. Hawkins is also the all-time Great Britain number two (and European all-time number six) in the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

. He is the

Great Scottish Run The Great Scottish Run is a series of mass-participation road running events, held annually in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland in October. The event began as a full marathon in 1979, but later changed to a weekend of shorter events. The weekend ...

course record holder and was the first British man to win that event in 23 years.

Personal life

Hawkins was born on 22 June 1992 in

Elderslie Elderslie may refer to one of the following locations: * Elderslie, Scotland Elderslie ( gd, Ach na Feàrna) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in west central Scotland. It chiefly serves as a commuter village, ...

near Paisley. He has two elder brothers, Scott and

Derek Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of '' Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name ar ...

, the latter of whom is also an international distance runner. The brothers were encouraged to take up athletics and are trained by their father Robert, a former international runner. Between 2010 and 2012 Hawkins competed for the

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

in the United States, earning all-American status, and winning the 2011 Men's Athlete of the Year award for the Great Lakes Region. He was the first athlete from the Butler University to win the award. After that he studied mechanical engineering at the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

. Some time before 2013 he had two surgeries on his left knee.

Athletics

At the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Hawkins finished 47th in the junior men's race in a time of 24 minutes and 21 seconds. In 2013 he finished seventh in the men's under-23's race at the

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championships ...

. At the 2014 European Cross Country Championships he improved to a fifth-place finish in the under-23's race. Hawkins competed at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

held in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, representing the host nation in the men's 10,000 metres, finishing 20th. In October 2015 he finished the

in a time of one hour two minutes and 42 seconds, setting a personal best to in second place overall behind Uganda's

Moses Kipsiro Moses Ndiema Kipsiro (born 2 September 1986 in Singare) is a Ugandan long-distance runner who specialises in the 5000 metres. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He represented Uganda at the 2 ...

and winning the gold medal for Scottish athletes. Later that month he competed in his first marathon in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, finishing twelfth in two hours 12 minutes and 17 seconds, in a race won by Ethiopia's

Sisay Lemma Sisay Lemma Kasaye (born 12 December 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. Career Sisay Lemma began his running career at the age of 17 and initially competed barefoot due to a lack of running shoes. In 2012, he won the Maratona d� ...

. At the

2016 London Marathon The 2016 London Marathon was the 36th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 24 April. The men's elite race was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and the women's race was won by Kenyan Jemima Sumgong. Th ...

, his second event over the distance, Hawkins finished eighth overall, and was the first British-qualified athlete to finish, in a time of two hours 10 minutes and 52 seconds. This time was inside the qualifying time of two hours 14 minutes needed to earn him a place in the Great Britain team for the

to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was joined in the men's marathon by fellow British athletes,

Tsegai Tewelde Tsegai Tewelde (born 8 December 1989) is an Eritrean-born British distance runner, who competed in the marathon at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Personal life Tewelde was born in Eritrea on 8 December 1989. At the age of eight, he was injured in a la ...

and his brother Derek Hawkins. Hawkins finished ninth in the

at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

in a time of 2:11:52. In October 2016 he again ran the

and this time was the overall winner of the event in 1:00:24. This would have been a new Scottish half-marathon record, but the race was found to be 150 m short, which invalidated the result. In January 2017 he became the first British athlete to beat

in any race for 7 years at the

Great Edinburgh International Cross Country The Great Edinburgh International Cross Country was an annual cross country running competition that took place every January in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was one of the competitions in the Great Run series of athletics events and was held alongsi ...

race, which has been held annually since 2005. In fact Callum was 2nd in this race overall (with Farah in 7th) - Callum had put in a strong performance to lead for most of the race, but was out-sprinted by

Leonard Korir Leonard Essau Korir (born December 10, 1986) is a Kenyan-born American long-distance runner who competes over distances from 5000 meters to the marathon. He was twice NCAA champion, winning an indoor 5000 m title and outdoor 10,000 meters ti ...

in the final straight. In February 2017 Hawkins won the

Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon The is an annual road running competition which takes place in early February in Marugame, Japan. It currently holds IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and the professional races attract over 1000 entries each year,Ota, Shigenobu (2009-02-02)Mar ...

in Japan, in 60:00, setting a new Scottish half-marathon record. The previous record was set by Allister Hutton in 1987. In August 2017 Hawkins finished 4th in the men's marathon at the 2017 World Championships, equalling the best ever performance by a British runner in this event. Hawkins competed at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

held in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia, and collapsed near the finish while leading, from heat exhaustion in 30 degree heat. Hawkins came fourth in the men's marathon at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

, the same placing as in 2017. He competed in the men's marathon at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

International competitions

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Callum 1992 births Living people Scottish male marathon runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Alumni of the University of the West of Scotland Sportspeople from Renfrewshire Butler University alumni Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States