Despite a cancelled flight, little sleep and a hectic competition schedule Mark Palmer claimed Gold and Silver, for GB, in the IAADS European Champs. The competition was held over 2 mornings, on 14th & 15th October, in Estádio Municipal Lavandeira, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
On day one Mark competed in the 100m. There were 3 heats with Mark coming second in his heat and, in a very close race, fifth in the final in 14.94 secs. He then improved on this performance by achieving Silver in 400m (1 min 17.67 secs). Next he competed in his very first Triathlon achieving; 100m 15.36 secs, shot 5.16m, long jump 3 invalid jumps resulting in 1138 points, a disappointing 10th place.
Day two saw Mark reach the Long Jump final on the strength of his one valid jump, a PB. Mark then competed in the second heat of the 200m finishing 2nd. Immediately he dashed back to the LJ final where he unfortunately had 3 further invalid jumps and finished 6th, based on his qualifying round performance.
With no rest Mark proceeded to the 800m start and amazingly managed to achieve European Gold in 3 min 09.60 secs! Twenty minutes later, very tired, he finished fourth in 200m final in 33.68 secs. Well done Mark – Four Finals, one Silver and one Gold.
However, the story doesn’t quite end there. In the team points competition: Portugal, a massive team, finished first; Finland, 5 athletes, second; GB, just Mark and team mate Charlotte Cox (Cambridge & Coleridge AC), third place. Well Done #TeamGB
