This is the first article from Stuart Weir in Istanbul for the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships. This article is on Marti the Seagull. Just so you know, Stuart Weir is contractually bound to take 1 picture and do 1 article at least with a mascot of a regional or global championship each year. Many of our readers, track & field enthusiasts, also like to dress up like sport team mascots. A little-known fact, that we would like to share with you today…
Marti the seagull
Femke Bol, Kevin Mayer, EIC Presser, March 2, 2023, photo by Stuart Weir,
The opening press conference of the European Indoor Athletics Championships was an unusually poignant and sober affair, with a moderator, Hannah England’s first words a reference to those who had tragically lost their lives in the earthquake.
Hannah England, Presser, EA Indoors, photo by Stuart Weir
The representatives of the organizing committee led the assembled media in a minute’s silence in tribute to them. The event is donating one Euro (slightly more than a dollar) for every ticket sold to the disaster relief appeal.
Hannah England and the presser, March 2, 2023, Istanbul, Turkey, photo by Stuart Weir
In the end, the four athletes in the press conference Femke Bol, Kevin Mayer, Kayhar Ozer, and Tugba Danismaz wrote a message of support on the whiteboard.
Femke Bol writes on the message board, photo by Chaira Montesano
An interested onlooker was Marti the seagull, the event mascot, who apparently loves both athletics and nature. Seagulls, according to the program, are “indispensable symbols of cruises around the Bosphorus and Istanbul”. You heard it first at RunBlogRun.
Stuart and Marti the Seagull. FYI, Stuart must take photos with mascots of championships per his contract, photo by Stuart Weir