National champions lead Sports Star race

NATIONAL champions Pat Eddy and Jazy Roberts are first on the grid in the 61st Bendigo Sports Star of the Year race.

Both shone in cycling and golf respectively at national title showdowns in Perth in cycling and golf.

Eddy struck gold in the elite men’s road race, 176 kilometres, on the final day of Cycling Australia’s national road championships in January.

Racing for Team Brennan, Eddy rode superbly in his first major race since he was dropped from his WorldTour team after a two-year stint.

Born in Echuca, Eddy is a long-time member of the Bendigo and District Cycling Club and earnt the Cyril Michelsen Trust Fund in the Sports Star of the Year awards in 2019 and 2020.

It’s been a hectic start to the year for Eddy who raced the Tour Down Under in South Australia in January.

Hit-outs in February included the Cadel Evans criterium and Great Ocean Road Race, the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool, Tour of Tasmania, and the Harbour City GP in Sydney.

On the golf course, Jazy Roberts struck a course record 10-under in the final round to clinch a six-shot victory in the Australian Women’s Amateur Golf Championship.

Roberts was 27-under after four outstanding rounds at the Western Australian Golf Club.

Just days after her success in the west and Roberts teed off in the Asian Amateur Championships in New Zealand.

She was equal third in a field of 84 world-ranked amateurs from 25 countries.

In a great start to the year, Roberts was seventh in a women’s field of 83 at the Australian Master of the Amateurs.

Roberts was equal first as leading female amateur and equal fourth overall at the Victorian Open.

Belvoir Park’s young gun was among the recipients in last year’s Lucas Herbert Scholarship.

Now starring for Team Ripper on the LIV circuit, Herbert chipped his winnings from his Bendigo Sports Star of the Year award across 2020 and ’21 to launch the scholarship.

Through Herbert’s support many of the region’s rising stars have been able to develop their game on fairways and greens close to and further away from home.