Cormac Dalton shoots for the stars with National Cross Country title defence ambitions

Dalton goes into the race as the reigning champion, having fulfilled a long-held ambition by winning the national cross country title in Gowran last year, faring best in the shin-deep, slop-fest of mud.

Athlete Cormac Dalton has hopes of making the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya.

After the year he’s had, you could forgive Cormac Dalton if he set the bar a little lower. Maybe just shoot for a top-three finish, try to book his place on the Irish team for next month’s European Cross Country in Antalya, Turkiye. But ask the Mullingar Harrier his goal for tomorrow’s 123.ie National Cross Country Championships and the 26-year-old isn’t long aiming skyward.

“It’s to defend the title,” he says. “Making the team – I’d see that as plan B. It’d be the least I’d expect. I don’t know if that’s cocky to say, but I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t make the team.”