Joe Reid will pick up his first senior vest for Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the European Athletics Indoor Championships this weekend.

In taking to the track in Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Friday evening, it is believed 800-metre runner Reid will become only the third Manx athlete to run at a European Championship.

The 22-year-old follows in the trainer spikes of Keith Gerrard, who ran the 10,000 metres for GB at the 2012 European Outdoor Championships, and Jessica Draskau-Petersson, who represented Denmark at the marathon in 2014.

Reid only secured his place in the 49-strong British team after running a qualification time, and a new Manx record, of 1min 47.83sec at the Muller GP a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking earlier this week Reid said: ’I’m really excited to race against the elite 800m runners in Europe.

’I feel like I belong on this stage now so I’m really up for the battle.

’I hope that young athletes in the island can take inspiration from seeing me on TV and I would encourage them to get down to the track and take part in some of the sessions that are put on.

’It’s going to be a very proud moment for me, my family, my friends and support team.’

The first round of 800m heats take place on Friday around 7.48pm. The semi-finals are on Saturday evening and the final on Sunday night.

Coverage of this and the rest of the weekend’s action will be shown live on BBC Two and on the BBC Sport website.