The soldiers headed to Portsmouth in confident mood following a pre-tournament training camp in Sweden, but the competition’s dominant outfit formed too big a hurdle on the day.
“There was a time when we had an extremely strong team of regulars and reserves,” Parkes (pictured) told SoldierSport.
“But we have haemorrhaged competitive lifters in recent times, whether that’s through deployments and exercises or people leaving the service.
“We have not been able to replace them, strength for strength, but are not far off.
“In contrast, the RAF have had consistent athletes available over the years.
“Our approach now is to get people in who have the right attitude and ethos and then develop them.
“We had three novice females who were lifting for the first time at the Inter-Services. Representing the army on that platform, they did what we needed them to do – that is the mindset we want.”
While Parkes missed out in the forces showdown he has achieved notable success throughout the year.
The reservist, who served as a regular for 11 years before leaving in 2015, was victorious in the 73kg ranks at the British Masters in February – breaking two records in the process. A bronze medal followed at the European Masters, a feat that was matched at the World Masters in Las Vegas.
“I felt confident about medalling at the British Masters – but I didn’t think I’d break records that had stood for 13 years,” he said.
“The Europeans were the most intense competition I have been involved in and the guy who finished first had competed at the Commonwealth Games twice.
“That is the level, and I was over the moon to medal there.
“As soon as we knew the Worlds were in Las Vegas we had to go. It was another level up, and the lifters who took gold and silver were both Olympians.
“To walk away with three medals from three major competitions having had no expectations was amazing.
“We just wanted to push army weightlifting and get our name out there. Hopefully we can feature in the masters scene long into the future.”
