Our Neighbors: Running around the world – Winnisquam athlete to compete in Australia

TILTON — Three years ago, Riley Mann got to watch his older brother, Kyle, participate in the Down Under Sports international tournament, held in Australia. This summer, he will follow in his big brother’s footsteps, racing in Brisbane with other high school students from around the world.

The Down Under tournament, now 32 years going, was started by a New Zealand couple as a way to promote American-style football in the Pacific region. They soon realized that they could expand the program to include basketball, track and field, golf and volleyball, in order to use the common language of athletics to build connections across cultures. Mann, who is hoping to run in the 800-meter, the 400-meter and the 4 X 400 relay track events, will practice and compete in the event in July.

Mann is a junior at Winnisquam Regional High School, where he is a member of the National Honor Society. Math is one of his stronger subjects, and he is looking into furthering his education in either business or engineering.

But when it comes to athletics, Mann is all about running. He tried playing basketball in middle school, but in high school he has stuck to running: indoor and outdoor track, and cross-country.

“It’s just the competitiveness,” Mann said, when asked about running. “It is a team sport and it’s very individual. You can push yourself and see how much you can improve. It’s a fun sport if you can get into it. There’s also the feeling of accomplishment if you run a personal record, or if you beat someone you don’t normally beat, you feel very accomplished.”

Mann will spend about a week training and competing with other runners from around the world, and he’s looking forward to building relationships with people who might share nothing with him except for a love of running.

“I’m just glad I got the opportunity to run. I’m happy to represent New Hampshire in Australia,” Mann said. “I’m also thankful that my family lets me go down and compete.”

Peter Steese, Mann’s track coach at WRHS, said his runner is an “outstanding young man.”

“His performances during the past two years on the cross-country and indoor and outdoor track are without question exceptional.” Steese said that Mann was part of a relay team that won the Division III state title in 4x800 meter event. Mann has run the 800 meter in 2:04, the 400m in 54.54, the 300m in 39.74 and the 1000m in 2:44.95. His cross-country 5k personal record is 17:19, and he has been named a recipient of the NHIAA Sportsmanship Award.

“Riley is a passionate runner and a great teammate. He has an excellent sense of humor. He enjoys challenges and his overall determination is infectious,” Steese said. “Riley is deserving of this honor and I am certain he will represent himself, his family, the Winnisquam Bears and the State of New Hampshire well ‘down under.’”