Carrie Boudreau, 49, of Raymond is a fighter.

A world champion power lifter, mom, teacher and mountain biker, she has battled cancer and won once and is currently battling another round. But it hasn’t stopped her.

Boudreau is a member of the Dirt Divas, a women’s offshoot of the Central Maine New England Mountain Bike Association, which has membership from Waterville to Portland and beyond.

She has wanted to upgrade her mountain bike for a long time, she said.

But her friend, Disa Fedorowicz of Turner said, “she had been saving up for a new bike but hasn’t bought one because she thinks it is selfish to spend that sort of money on herself.”

So Fedorowicz, Ian Ogilivie of Waterville and Maurice Convey of Norway (Oxford Hills Dental) got together and organized a fund drive, garnering donations from far and wide — literally. More than 50 people from all over the world chipped in, from the Middle East, Colorado, New Hampshire, Florida, Kentucky, Harpswell, Norway, Portland, Freeport, Hallowell, Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston, Auburn, Poland, Turner and Buckfield, raising $2,670 toward a new bike retailing for $4,599.

Green Machine bike shop of Norway donated $400 off the price of the bike — a Juliana Furtado C — and had T-shirts made for the occasion. 

A surprise party was organized to present the money to Boudreau. The Norway Brewing Co. and Oxford Hills Dental each donated a mini keg and guests brought food.

On Jan. 7, Boudreau arrived at Green Machine with her daughter, Alice, 11, and a friend supposedly to “check out a sale” the friend was interested in at Green Machine, her cover story to bring Boudreau to the Green Machine. 

Some 30 or so friends and family, hidden at the back of Green Machine, jumped out and shouted “surprise” once Boudreau was inside. 

Boudreau’s brother, Adrien, wheeled out the bike. Boudreau was presented with the money raised toward its purchase. She was speechless.

The guests were all wearing the commemorative T-shirt that stated:

“Cancer Sucks, Life is Short, Buy the D*** Bike!”

She did.

“I was completely surprised,” she said. “It was amazing!”

Pushing through

Boudreau has always been a major athlete, said her mother, Linda Boudreau. In high school, she loved field hockey and was on the all-star team, even playing in Ireland. 

Then she took up power lifting, winning world championships.

According to an article in Web MD in February 2000, “Boudreau holds the world record in her weight class of 56 kg (about 124 pounds) for lifting a mere 1,154.72 pounds. Granted, that’s a total sum of three lifts: the dead lift, the bench press, and the squat lift. But in the dead lift alone, where the athlete bends at the waist and lifts the weight off the ground, Boudreau lifted 491.72 pounds. … Researchers at the University of Dayton in Ohio say she’s ‘arguably’ the world’s strongest woman overall.”

She had set her sights on the Olympics in the 1990s and moved to Georgia with her coach, Danny Harling, to train. 

But is was not to be.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to give up her Olympic dream. Instead she turned her energy toward fighting the disease and won. 

Told she would most likely not be able to have children, she defied that prediction as well, giving birth to her daughter, Alice, whom her mother calls a “miracle baby.”

She and her partner, Harling, and their daughter moved back from Georgia to be near family.

And then the cancer came back.

According to Linda, she has been battling this second bout for quite some time.

And while she fights that battle, she teaches science in Falmouth Middle School, coaches basketball for Alice’s team, supports Alice in her dance endeavors and is earning a master’s degree.

In fact, she was recently chosen as an outstanding student at University of Southern Maine to be an inauguration scholar recognized at the installation of Dr. Glenn Cummings, USM’s new president.

She has also completed the Mount Washington road race — twice — and Adventure Race/Tough Mudder, her very proud mom said.

And what does Carrie say?

“I have the best friends in the whole wide world.”

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