Thomas Barr will lead the Irish men’s team at the IAAF World Relay Championships in the Bahamas this weekend, where qualification for both the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio are up for grabs.
Fresh from securing the world championship qualifying time of 49.08 in the 400m hurdles in Florida, Barr (Ferrybank AC) will head the six-strong Irish men’s 4x400m team.
Craig Lynch (Shercock AC) joins Barr on the team having run a time of 47.35 in Jacksonville, Florida earlier this month.
European Indoor 400m semi-finalist Dara Kervick (Clonliffe Harriers AC) is also named along with three members of the Irish 4x400m team that twice broke the Irish record in Zurich last summer – Brian Murphy (Crusaders AC), Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC) and Richard Morrissey (Crusaders AC).
With Irish teams set to compete in the men’s 4x400m and women’s 4x100m events, a top-eight finish in either event will automatically secure qualification for both the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games.
The Irish women’s 4x100m team, who were also in recording-breaking form in Zurich last summer setting a new national record of 43.84secs, will have a group of five runners in the Bahamas.
Amy Foster (City of Lisburn AC), Sarah Lavin (UCD AC) and Phil Healy (Bandon AC), who were members of that record breaking team, are joined by Celtic DCH duo of Catherine McManus and Stephanie Creaner.
The men’s team will get the action underway in the heats on Saturday, while the women’s team take to their marks in the 4x100m heats on Sunday.
If either team fails to finish inside the top eight at the weekend, in order to qualify for the IAAF Worlds in Beijing they will need to be ranked inside the top 16 teams in the world before the qualification period closes on 9 August.
