Public urged to plan their journey ahead of Strabane Lifford Half Marathon

Organisers of the Strabane Lifford Half Marathon are urging the public to familiarise themselves with the traffic restrictions that will be in place to facilitate the event this Sunday morning.
Over 1,000 runners are expected to take to the roads for the popular cross border event that starts at Meetinghouse Street in Strabane at 9.30am with finishers arriving at the running track at the Melvin Sports Complex from 10.35am until around 1pm.
Derry City and Strabane District Council are co-ordinating the event in conjunction with Lifford Strabane AC and they have asked anyone travelling in the vicinity on Sunday to plan their journey, particularly given the extra traffic expected for the Ulster Championship and Nicky Rackard GAA games scheduled for Omagh on Sunday afternoon.
“To ensure the safety of both runners and motorists it will be necessary to introduce temporary traffic restrictions for a short time,” explained Marketing Officer at Derry City and Strabane District Council, Aisling McCallion. “These have been carefully selected in consultation with PSNI, Gardaí and the Department for Infrastructure, to minimise delays and inconvenience for residents and traffic.
“Unfortunately some disruption is inevitable but in order to minimise this and avoid delays we would ask you to familiarise yourself with the traffic and travel advice.
“We apologise in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused, we will make every effort to minimise any disruption and remember that disruptions to normal traffic will only be for a very short period of time.”
Commuters are being requested to, where possible, avoid travelling along the affected route during the event and if they must do so to follow the signed diversions and allow some extra time for your journey.
As the event is on a Sunday morning it may be prudent to allow a little extra time to reach Church Services in Strabane, Lifford, Castelfinn and Doneyloop.
Anyone travelling to the Ulster Championship tie between Tyrone in Derry in Omagh at 4pm and particular the Nicky Rackard Hurling Game between Tyrone and Mayo at 2pm in Omagh may want to leave some extra time for their journey if they are travelling through the Strabane Lifford area.
Police, Gardai and race marshals will be present around the race route to provide advice.
Organisers apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused to you by these traffic restrictions and will make every effort to minimise any disruption.
Please bear with us, enjoy the event if you can and remember that disruptions to normal traffic will only be for a very short time.
The full list of road closures are available at www.derrystrabane.com/halfmarathon where any updates will be posted.