Rob Dixon (born 1964) is a British former strongman competitor, and a current

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

runner. Dixon is notable for having won the major British title and having been a repeat competitor at the

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decembe ...

Biography

Rob Dixon was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, Great Britain in 1964. He is a repeat competitor at the World's Strongest Man. He rose to prominence on the strength athletic circuit when he won the 1997

Britain's Strongest Man Britain's Strongest Man is an annual strongman event held in the United Kingdom. Competitors qualify for the final through regional heats and the winner is awarded the title of "Britain's Strongest Man". The competition is produced by TWI and ser ...

.Thurrock Gazette, ''Dixon's fate to be revealed'' 12:00am Saturday 19 August 2000
/ref> Dixon, whilst competing, was living in Sand Hutton and owned the Samson and Delilah's Fitness Centre in Haxby and in Pocklington. In 2000 he was invited to compete at the

tournament, in Sun City,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He came second in his group and thereby made the final of the tournament. However, injury forced him to retire after the second event and he placed tenth. He made a second appearance in 2001, but in a closely fought heat he placed third, just missing out on the final. Dixon was also heavily involved in furthering the strongman career of

Mark Westaby Mark Westaby (born 17 April 1965) is a British strongman competitor, notable for being a repeat competitor at the World's Strongest Man. Biography Julian Mark Westaby was born in 1965 in Healaugh, near Tadcaster. He attended Tadcaster Gramma ...

. Westaby, of the York area also, approached Dixon after watching Dixon compete in 2002. Westaby recalled the following: "I watched Rob and told him afterwards that I fancied giving it a go. I’d not done any sport since the shot putt when I was at school and had been nowhere near a gym but he was stood next to an Atlas stone and said ‘if you can lift that, I’ll train you.’ It was about 150 kg but I did it." Dixon began training Westaby, who would eventually appear a number of times at the World's Strongest Man finals. Dixon later moved to France to concentrate on snowboarding.The York Press, ''Mark Westaby'', 9:38am Wednesday 15 October 2008, by Dave Flett After retiring from strongman, he lost 100 pounds and began running ultramarathons for charity. In July 2016, he ran The Wolds Way (79 miles) in 14 hours 56 minutes.Wolds Weekly, ''Former Strongman to run the Wolds Way'', Thursday 21st July 2016, by Sam Walker

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Rob 1964 births British strength athletes Living people pl:Bill Pittuck