Connacht Indoors 2019 (23rd Feb)

European Qualification Standard for Jamie Battle

Jamie Battle and Cormac Dalton raced in the 5,000m at the Connacht Indoors on Saturday 23rd February in Athlone IT and finished the indoor season with fine performances. Jamie was targeting the European Junior 5,000m qualification standard of 14:40. It was his first indoor 5,000m indoor race but was undaunted by the twenty five laps. He stuck diligently to his race plan and produced an excellent final 400m to finish in a time of 14:37.10, a PB by a margin of twenty eight seconds. This was inside the standard required and he can now look forward to the European Junior Track & Field Championships, which will be held in Borås, Sweden in July. This is a great achievement for Jamie who has previously represented Ireland at the European Cross Country Championship and can now look forward to his first major track championship.

Cormac Dalton also produced an excellent race to finish closely behind Jamie in a time of 14:46.86. This was also a PB by over thirty seconds. Following an excellent cross country season, Cormac is continuing to make rapid progress as a distance runner and is firmly established as one of Ireland’s leading u/23 endurance athletes. Both Cormac and Jamie have shown great dedication to their training over the past few years and are consistently improving as a result.