Richard Parks

Richard David Parks (born 14 August 1977) is a former Wales international rugby union player turned extreme endurance athlete and television presenter.

In rugby he represented Newport RFC, Pontypridd RFC, Celtic Warriors, Leeds Tykes, Perpignan and Newport Gwent Dragons over a professional career which spanned 13 years.

Parks was born on 14 August 1977 in Pontypridd to a Jamaican mother, Lee, and a Welsh father, Derek Parks.

Richard grew up in Newport, Wales and attended Rougemont School, Newport and Monmouth School.

Richard first started playing Rugby at the age of 11 at Rougemont School and progressed quickly through the school ranks playing at flanker throughout.

He was selected for Welsh Schools at under 18 level and then had a brief spell with Newport youth before spending a year in South Africa in 1996 at Michaelhouse, a boarding school for senior boys in Durban.

Richard competed for the first team at Michaelhouse whilst he studied A-level chemistry in order to gain entry to Cardiff University to study Dentistry.

Whilst in South Africa, Richard was invited to join the Natal Under 19s academy but this would have involved committing to attend university in South Africa.

Richard always had the desire to play for Wales, therefore he chose to return home to take a contract up with Newport Rugby Football Club, and sign his first professional contract as a rugby player.

In his first year at Newport RFC (1996–97) he was selected to play for the Welsh sevens team in Tokyo, Japan and in his second year at the age of 20 years, Richard was called up to train with the Welsh senior team.

At the end of this season (1997–98) Richard was voted most promising player of the year by his club winning the Arthur Boucher Award.

Park's 3rd season with Newport RFC saw him struck down with injury.

He missed most of the season after suffering a stress fracture of his spine.

Breaking his back resulted in Richard missing the opportunity to gain Welsh honours at an under 21 level.

After taking longer to recover than anticipated Richard was released from his contract at Newport RFC after 62 appearances and finished the season playing University Rugby for Cardiff Meds.

Parks was subsequently signed by Pontypridd RFC for the following season, and in 2001 Parks represented the Welsh Sevens in the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Argentina.

Pontypridd won the Principality Cup in 2002 and reached the Parker Pen Shield final losing 22 – 25 to Sale Sharks.

Many of the Pontypridd squad, including Parks, were called up to represent Wales on a tour to South Africa.

It was here on tour versus South Africa in Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein that 24-year-old Parks earned his first full international cap on 8 June 2002, in a 34–19 defeat, from the bench.

He became the 1001st player to represent Wales.

During the next season Richard was selected for the autumn international series where he gained his second cap against Fiji.

A final season at Pontypridd continued and Parks remained in the Welsh squad.

He was named in the 6 Nations squad but did not feature on a match day.

During the summer of 2003, he was selected in the preliminary World Cup squad and played warm-up games against Scotland and Ireland.

However, Parks missed out on final section to the World Cup in Australia.

Following the Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales in 2003, Parks was signed to the newly formed Celtic Warriors.

He played the whole of that new look 2003–04 season out of position at number 8 due to injuries in the squad, finishing with 19 appearances.

Following the demise of the region after only one season, Parks joined the then Welsh head coach Phil Davies at Leeds Tykes.

After a difficult start to the 2004–05 season through injury, Parks become an influential member of the Leeds squad and was at times named as vice captain.

At the beginning of 2005 following injuries to key players, Leeds were bottom of the Zurich Premiership and some way adrift of their rivals.

Despite the threat of relegation they made it to their first ever Powergen Cup final in 2005, defeating Bath 20–12 at Twickenham to claim their first ever trophy.

Following the cup win they went on to win five straight games and avoided relegation finishing the season in eighth position.

The following season saw the Tykes lose their first eight games in three different competitions, and were relegated at the end of the season.

Parks subsequently signed for USA Perpignan for the 2006–07 season.

However, due to a failure to gain sufficient game time, Parks returned to Wales for the 2007–08 season with the Newport Gwent Dragons.

Parks tore his knee ligaments in the Boxing Day derby against Cardiff Blues, marking the start of a long line of injuries, which ultimately led to his retirement from rugby.

Early in his second season with the Dragons, Parks injured his shoulder in a tackle.

Unaware of the severity of the injury, Richard continued to play and then had an operation over Christmas to repair his shoulder.

He returned to action at the beginning of the year but his shoulder problem reoccurred.

In May 2009 he was forced to retire from rugby due to a shoulder injury.