LEWISTON — Antoinette Gagne may not have been able to partake in the races or the parade, but pageantry certainly wasn’t lost on the 100-year-old Lewiston woman.

A founding member of the Lady Jacques Cartier Snowshoe Club, which she helped establish in 1959, she proudly watched from her wheelchair as more than 200 people from across the Northeast and Canada gathered for the 103rd International Snowshoe Championship meet in Lewiston this weekend.

Gagne has been a member of snowshoe clubs in Rumford and Lewiston since 1938. She was one of several spectators who showed her support for the 100-plus runners representing more than a dozen snowshoe clubs at the races at the Lewiston Armory on Saturday. She fondly reminisced about the days when the event drew thousands to the Twin Cities.

The three-day event was hosted by La Paresseux Snowshoe Club of Rumford. In addition to races, the event featured a coronation ceremony, a parade, a dance and an awards presentation.

“It’s to keep them moving and going and to keep the French heritage going,” said Richard Sutton, 71, of Turner, a member of the Pastime Club in Lewiston.

Sutton and his wife brought their grandson, 9-year-old Nick Roy, to the event. While the Turner Elementary School fourth-grader enjoys leisurely snowshoe adventures with his parents, he also liked the challenge of racing.

“I thought it would be good practice for me,” Roy said.

For his grandfather, it was a way to keep his Franco-American heritage alive for future generations.

“We want to show them where their descendants come from and what they’ve been doing,” Sutton said. “Show them where the language came from — their past.”