Daily Mining Gazette/Jamie Glenn A participant gets some last minute adjustments made to her bike before she heads out to the trails Friday to take part in the Copper Harbor Women’s Weekend Clinic.

COPPER HARBOR — The 6th Annual Copper Harbor Women’s Weekend Clinic kicked off in downtown Copper Harbor Friday morning. From volunteers to the coaches and participants, over 100 people came from all over the United States and Canada to learn from one another on the trails of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

An event coordinator, Cassandra Whener, of Houghton, attended the event a few years ago and has since helped behind the scenes. Whener has some high hopes for this year’s clinic.

“I attended the clinic a few years ago and also helped with organization so I’ve just kind of stuck around and helped because this is an amazing group of woman and this is a great community up here,” said Whener. “It’s just a great way for other women to see how this works.”

Those who signed up to attend the clinic this year will start from the beginning and learn the fundamentals of the sport and apply such skills out on the trails in Copper Harbor throughout the weekend.

Lianna Miller, a six-year veteran of the event, was one of the 20 coaches offering her knowledge of the sport to students Friday so that they could withstand the torturous trails.

“Our goal is to get them on bikes out here on the trails with the skills that they need to approach our trails,” said Miller. “We have some pretty amazing riding here but it’s pretty intimidating. So we’re trying to reduce that intimidation factor and make this something that these gals can do.”

The coaches are looking to provide the skills and the drills needed to get more confident at mountain biking.

“In the past, the idea was (that) you needed to just go ride more to get better, but it’s come a long ways,” said Miller. “Our goal is to teach the ladies the drills and the skills to be able to get out there and ride all of our amazing trails.”

Tickets to participate in this year’s event sold out very quickly.

“We sell this out in under five minutes,” said Miller. “It is as big as we can make it without overwhelming the infrastructure of Copper Harbor. We can’t add more woman because it’s just too full.”

Jennifer Koehler from traveled from Minneapolis, Minnesota, for her second run through the clinic.

“I’ve been mountain biking for six or seven years but this is my second time coming up here for the clinic,” said Koehler. “I’m excited. I think it helps women not only get engaged in the sport, but it builds confidence.”

Valerie Dosland has never attended this clinic before but she has some big goals for the weekend ahead.

“I’m hoping for a fun weekend of getting to ride with some new women and try to overcome some things that I’m afraid of when I’ve been biking,” she said.

Mandy Kramer is a member of the coaching staff for this year’s event. She is enthusiastic about what the weekend has in store.

“We’re looking to have some fun and ride bikes this weekend,” Kramer said. “We have over 100 women taking over Copper Harbor and just riding all weekend. We’re going to do skills and drills. We’re going to apply stuff out on the trails and we’re going to have a really good time.”

While a span of six years isn’t that long in the grander scheme of things, Kramer has already begun to see the skill level that participates in the clinic change, which also adjusts how the sport is viewed.

“I’m curious this year that we don’t have any beginners,” said Kramer. “The whole skill level has shifted. As far as diversity with women in a sport that has been dominated by men in the past, we’re definitely bringing a lot more women into this sport.”