College maths teacher runs for Cooks

Tereora College mathematics teacher Bryn Parry got ”a very pleasant surprise“ recently when he received a phone call informing him that he had been selected to represent the Cook Islands at the National Cross-country Championships in Hamilton on August 4.

But to anyone who saw Parry run away with all four races in the open men’s division of the recent Cook Islands cross-country series, there is no doubt that the selection is well-deserved.

Parry, who admits to being something of a novice at the running game, is making good progress in his fledgling running career all the same.

”I actually only started running about two years ago when a mate of mine was training to pass the physical test to get entry into the NZ Police and I agreed to tag along and give him a bit of a hand with getting fit,“ recalled Parry, who, along with his wife Julz and their young family, made the Cooks his second home some 18 months ago.

Regular runs through Rotorua’s Redwood Forest with his friend soon had Parry enjoying his running and cross-country running in particular.

But he admits that he only started to dabble in competitive running when he arrived in the Cook Islands.

At the recent Kumete Sports Day he mastered the very hot conditions and the rest of the field in the 3000 metres to win comfortably in his track debut and then hopped in the 100m sprint shortly afterwards and showed a surprisingly good turn of foot to win that event too.

Four wins in the Cook Islands cross-country series from as many appearances followed, the latest back on ‘home ground’ at Tereora College on Thursday night, where he was again dominant, showing his rivals a clean pair of heels – as he had done in the three previous races.

Earlier in the week, he finished a solid second in the 800m and won the 3000m at the National Athletics Championships run at BCI stadium. The improvement between the Kumete Sports Day win and Tuesday’s win was there for all to see. At the Kumete meeting he had clocked 11.05 and he cut 33 seconds off that in Tuesday’s race – stopping the clock at 10.32 for a runaway win.

Even given his success in the Cooks and such a promising start to his running career, Parry is a realist and while he is at the head of his field (he is Head of Departments in Maths at Tereora) he knows that will not be the case when the gun goes off in Hamilton.

”I am prepared to face the fact that I won’t be leading them in, in Hamilton,“ he said with a chuckle.

Either way, he is ”really stoked“ to be representing his adopted country and his selection has steeled his resolve to give it his best shot when he pulls on the green, white and yellow singlet against the best New Zealand has to offer at the champs.

Parry is clearly a versatile athlete – having competed in track and cross-country so successfully with fairly limited preparation – and he hopes to extend this into triathlon next year.

”I ran as part of a team in the Rarotonga International triathlon in May this year and really enjoyed it but next year I am toying with the idea of giving it a go in the individual event,“ Parry said.

His individual triathlon debut will be in next April’s Tin Man Triathlon – the traditional lead-up to the Rarotonga International Triathlon.

”I’ll see how the Tin Man treats me and if that goes well I will probably have a crack at the international event,“ he added.