Eddie Willis stands out in under 19s debut at AusCycling National Championships

The Tamworth product spent the last day of his weekend embroiled in a battle at the AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships, where he competed in the junior men's division for the first time.

The 17-year-old was racing against opponents as much as two years older than him.

And, to make things more complicated, he had to navigate a difficult track in Thredbo, which sits at an elevation of roughly one-and-a-half kilometres.

"The altitude made a huge difference," Eddie's mother, Laurie, said.

"Ed said in the race, and talking to other riders as well, he felt that he couldn't get enough oxygen in."

Neither that nor his relative youth could stop Eddie, though, as he sped to a fourth-place finish in the XCO and XCC divisions.

While he did miss out on a medal, those results were still better than they had hoped for, Laurie said.

"You always aim high, hope for the podium, but I honestly felt that if he could get in the top five, that would be a great effort," she said.

To complement his efforts in the individual races, Eddie won gold in the Open XC Relay, which required participating teams to consist of one rider from each of the different age groups.

He, alongside Sam Fox, Katherine Hosking, and David Winfield, won in a narrow finish with a time of 37 minutes 21 seconds to claim their second straight medal in the event.

Eddie's results from the weekend have only bolstered his dream of representing Australia, and a meeting with AusCycling during the championships confirmed that he was on the right track.

"We went to a pathways meeting held by AusCycling when we were down there," Laurie said.

"Just looking at his numbers, he is definitely on track for [national representation]."

A potential training trip to Europe coming up later this year has only served to intensify Eddie's already formidable training schedule.

"Coming back from the championships, he just wants to get back on the bike and bridge the gap to get closer to the top guys," Laurie said.

His next chance to do so will be in March, when Eddie and his family will travel to Queensland for the third and fourth round of the national series in Nerang, the Oceania Championships at Mount Cotton, and the Tour de Brisbane.

The events run across the month, and though it will be a taxing few weeks, it will likely also be a formative period for the young cyclist.

Fellow Tamworth resident, Ben Shaw, claimed a pair of bronze medals in the under 15s XCO and XCC events last weekend, to go with a second place finish in the under 15s XC relay.

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