Mayo athlete competing at World Half Marathon Championships

Knockmore man Hugh Armstrong, a member of Ballina Athletics Club, is one of three Irish athletes set to compete at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, this weekend.

He will be joined by Kevin Seaward (St. Malachy's AC) and Ann Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC) for an event that was originally scheduled for March of this year but was postponed following the outbreak of Covid-19.

This is the only European or World Championship event scheduled to take place in 2020, and the first in which Irish athletes will don the new Joma international kit.

The race will be run tomorrow (Saturday) and World Athletics have produced extensive Covid-19 safety protocols to allow the event to proceed, while the HP Unit of Athletics Ireland has drafted its own Covid-19 policy for Team Ireland travelling to international competitions, based on Sport Ireland and World Athletics protocols. Athletes will be subject to further testing, monitoring and restricted movement protocols on return to Ireland.

Based on the final entry figures, 157 men and 126 women from 62 teams will take to the start line in the in the northern Polish city. The course in Gdynia will be a new experience for athletes and has changed from a one-lap 21.1km loop to four loops of approximately 5.5km.

The women are set to hit the streets at 10 a.m. Irish time, while the men will get under way at 11.30 a.m.

*Pictured above, Hugh Armstrong running in the Irish singlet in 2017. Photo: Sportsfile