BENDIGO young gun Patrick Eddy says he’s still pinching himself over his success in the national cycling arena during 2018.

Eddy returned from the Junior National Road Championships in Bunbury, Western Australia, last Monday with a pair of gold medals from his under-17 division.

He was also crowned the champion of champions.

His dual gold in the individual time trial and criterium followed another pair of gold medal performances earlier this year at the Junior National Track Championships in Melbourne in February.

Eddy claimed wins in the under-17 men’s 50-lap point score and team pursuit events.

The year 10 student from Girton Grammar got his national championships campaign off to a perfect start last Friday with a win in the criterium.

He finished sixth behind Victorian team-mate Max Leiner in Saturday’s road race, before he rebounded to claim a ‘surprise’ win in Sunday’s time trial.

“Winning the sprint was a bit of a surprise for me, there’s a lot of other guys in the country who are just pure sprinters and are very explosive,” Eddy said.

“I just had a long sprint and kicked early, which I think surprised a few of the opposition.

“I was hoping to do well. Going over, I thought I could at least win one of the events, but I didn’t go into the criterium thinking I would win, so I even surprised myself with that.”

His efforts in Western Australia also helped Eddy clinch victory in the National Junior Road Series (NJRS), which added to his earlier win of the Victorian road series.

“If you had asked me at the start of the year if I could win four national (gold) medals, I would have taken that,” Eddy said.

The soon-to-be 16-year-old intends to take a short five or six day break from cycling before starting preparations for the under-19 national road championships.

Eddy was one of seven Bendigo and District Cycling Club riders in the 21-rider team in Western Australia.

Blake Agnoletto finished fourth in the under-17 criterium and sixth in the individual time trial.

Alex Allott was ninth in the under-17 criterium and 10th in the time trial; Chris Douglas finished fifth in the under-15 criterium, while Belinda Bailey was eighth in the under-15 crtiterium.

In final NJRS standings, Bendigo’s Jasmin Eddy finished sixth in the under-15 women’s, ahead of bailey in 13th.

Douglas was eighth in the under-15b men, while Allott and Alexander finished 17th and 18th respectively in the under-17 men’s.

Their placings aside, Eddy believed the championships had been a great learning experience for all seven Bendigo riders, especially first-timers Douglas, Bailey and Harry Knight.