The Yukon Road Cycling Championships this past week were dominated by some impressive pedaling performances.

The event was run by the U Kon Echelon Bike Club and sanctioned by the Cycling Association of Yukon (CAY). 

There were four stages of the race over four days. 

Wednesday was the Hill Climb in the Takhini neighbourhood. 

“It’s a very steep climb,” said U Kon Echelon coach and founder Trena Irving. “That’s probably about a 10 per cent grade, which is good training because I’m taking some kids down to Calgary this weekend for the Tour de Bowness.” 

The climb is 2.5 kilometres and just went straight up. 

“This time I just did a straight hill climb because I didn’t want any accidents,” related Irving.  

Hudson Lucier, in the Expert Men, had the fastest time overall, scaling the hill in 4 minutes and 48 seconds. 

“That was pretty darn fast,” said Irving.

U17 Boys’ Nico Giangrande powered his way to a fast time of 5:07. 

Frederique Prince in the Expert Women, was the fastest female. She finished in exactly six minutes, the same time as Steven Biss and Matt Ford. 

In U15 Boys, Jack Belanger finished in a time of 6:10, followed by Roger Luxemburger in 6:20. 

The second race took place Thursday in Whistle Bend on a .75 kilometre circuit. 

“That was also super-fun and really nice to take pictures because it’s very scenic there,” recalled Irving. 

“It’s really fun because you know every time exactly where the corner’s going to be, where the hill is going to be, and how to hit it.” 

Hudson Lucier finished first overall, followed by Julien Schroder. 

Friday night was the Beringia Criterium – which Irving said is basically where riders in a pack are racing really fast – on Condor Road. The race consisted of loops of 1.75 kilometres. 

“Really nice and fast,” said Irving. 

The circuit race Thursday and the Beringia Criterium Friday had the most participation.

Hudson Lucier again posted the fastest overall time of 42:57 in 16 laps, followed by Julien Schroder in 43:01. 

On Saturday, they had a longer criterium of 65 kilometres for the Expert Men and 45 kilometres for the other racers on a 6.5 km loop.

Hudson Lucier again recorded the fastest time of 1 hour, 45 minutes, 41 seconds, followed by Julien Schroder with a time of 1:53:20. 

Whitehorse native Mara Roldan of Cynisca Cycling stopped by for a visit which Irving said was “really cool.”

Irving said Roldan’s had a successful season, winning two gold at Nationals and then winning a couple of stages in the Redlands Bicycle Classic and a stage in the Volta a Portugal Feminina UCI Stage Race. 

“She’s just on fire and she works really, really hard,” said Irving. “So the kids really look up to her and they were very happy and felt privileged to have her come talk to us and hang out for a bit.” 

Irving said for the first time in many years at the Championships, they had a para-cyclist, Ramesh Ferris, competing. He took part in Friday’s criterium. 

Irving mentioned that another para-cyclist, Darryl Tait, had participated in the Southern Lakes Granfondo.

Irving said she was “really pleased to be seeing those guys coming out.” 

Irving added she would like to see the section of the bike path at the end of the airport paved for safety reasons. 

The championships had some highlights for Irving. 

“I guess my favourite part was seeing the younger kids race because we had twins who are nine years old come out (Sola and Takuto Kumagae), and they were racing really, really hard, and big smiles on their faces, and they just loved it.” 

Irving said some of the boys wore Canada Time Trial suits to honour the Canucks competing at the Olympics. 

She also said she was impressed by Hudson Lucier. 

“That guy is really, really fast.” 

Irving added, “It was really cool just to see some different people out and see people racing really hard and having fun and lots of cheering. 

“Ramesh Ferris commented when he was racing, ‘man, your club was just so supportive. Everyone was cheering me on and really made me feel good and want to keep going.'”

Future potential plans, other than the race this weekend in Calgary, include a potential road biking event in Haines Junction at the end of August. 

Irving’s family, along with a few other bikers, is also taking part in the Tour of Juneau during the Discovery Day (Aug. 19) weekend. 

“We like to go there and race with them just because they’re the most wonderful people in the cycling world.” 

Irving also added a thank you to the CAY and the City of Whitehorse, who granted the organizers a permit to hold a race on the bike trails. 

Complete results will be posted on the U Kon Echelon Facebook page and website and the CAY Facebook page. 

– With files from Trena Irving