By Annabelle A. Udo-O’Malley (additional reporting by Gloria Kim)

Deep down, Terry Park was determined to become Mr. Hyphen 2011. From submitting a video of himself singing the Spice Girls hit “Wannabe” to choreographing his performance as an air guitarwielding unicorn rebelling against his iron-pawed Tiger Mom — Park brought his A-game to the sixth annual competition in San Francisco last November.

“I thought I was too old to run even though there isn’t an age limit,” an exuberant Park said. “I’m 32, which, in unicorn age, is about 2,000 years old.”