The stars aligned and a trio of U Kon Echelon cyclists were able to attend the BC Superweek and gain valuble racing experience last week.

The all-female trio of Ava Irving-Staley, Mollie Fraser and Veronica Porter attended the major cycling event, which is a hotspot for some of the sport’s top names with more than $140,000 up for grabs in the prize purse over the week.

The Yukon athletes were attending the youth series – six races over eight days on the same courses as the pro riders.

The youth series is aimed at female riders ages 12-16 and male riders ages 12 -15.

This was the first year in the series’ three-year history that Yukon riders were the right age and had the ability to attend, said U Kon Echelon coach Trena Irving, who accompanied the cyclists.

“We’ve had our eye on it,” she said. “I think it was totally fun and valuable.”

In addition to giving the cyclists a taste of the courses the pros ride on, they also get to practise bike handling skills at speed and in larger groups than in the Yukon.

The Yukon athletes participated in four of the races: the Tour de Delta Brenco Criterium, Giro di Burnaby, Tour de New West Grand Prix and the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix.

While there weren’t any official results recorded, Irving noted that Irving-Staley and Porter were consistently in the chase group and that Irving-Staley was fifth in the Tour de Delta.

All of the races are criteriums – lap races where the cyclists all ride in tight groups.

Irving wasn’t as focused on results as what her athletes could learn from the experience.

“What can you take away from this to be a better rider,” she’d ask them.

Once their races were done, the Yukoners stuck around the course and saw the crowds fill in for the pros.

Irving estimates there were more than 5,000 people at the Tour de Gastown to watch the pros.

They witnessed a number of crashes, including one rider who somersaulted over another in front of the girls.

Once they’d fixed their bikes, they continued to race.

It was a good lesson for the Yukoners.

“You don’t quit because you crash,” said Irving. “You do continue.”

A number of the youth who rode in the series when it first began have gone on to compete in the pro race.

Irving has her eye on the youth race for her athletes again next year.

Taking advantage of being close to the location for the BC Youth Road Championship, the group also scouted the race course for the July 29-30 competition.

Once that is complete, they’ll head down to Elma, Washington for the Northwest Juniors Classic Stage Race, which attracts some of North America’s top youth riders.