Following his success at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2011, Dawson was offered an athletic scholarship at the University of Washington.

In 2023, he won the Grand Challenge Cup (the blue riband event at the Henley Royal Regatta) rowing in a composite Leander/Oxford Brookes eight .

[4] Dawson first represented for Great Britain at the 2011 Coupe de la Jeunesse where he won two events in a quad scull.

[1] Following completion of his studies at the University of Washington, Dawson was selected in the senior Great Britain representative squad in 2017.

He started in a coxless pair for World Rowing Cup I but by WRC II he'd moved in the men's eight.