The Leith runner, who has focused on marathons in recent years, won the Otago 10,000m championships at the Caledonian on Saturday in hot conditions.
He crossed the line first in 34min 45.98sec, ahead of Caversham runner Nathan Shanks in 35min 0.69sec.
Bathgate (10th) and Shanks (ninth) both competed at the Dick Tayler Commemorative national 10,000m at the Caledonian on January 13.
The mixed Otago event attracted a small field of four athletes this year.
Caversham runner Leon Miyahara (36min 23.41sec) and Hill City-University runner Simon Rhodes (37min 4.14sec) finished third and fourth overall respectively.
Other Dunedin athletes travelled to Whanganui to compete at the Cooks Classic on Saturday.
Becky Aitkenhead (nee Greene) fought off some tough competition to defend her national senior women’s mile title. The Hill City-University runner showed her experience to pull off a nail-biting win in 4min 33.55sec.
She finished 0.04sec ahead of Laura Nagel (North Harbour Bay), who produced a personal best of 4min 33.59sec, in a remarkable battle.
Another Hill City athlete, Nicolas Alvarez Rey-Virag, also claimed success.
He won silver in the men’s 800m, finishing in 1min 57.47sec behind Joe Martin (Wellington Scottish), who ran a personal best of 1min 57.07sec.
