ST. AGATHA – Joined by husbands, boyfriends and supporters, 25 women celebrated their fund-raising snowmobile ride on one of the coldest days this winter Sunday night at the Lakeview Restaurant.

Afterward, most of them bundled up again and jumped back onto their snowmobiles, again in torturous cold, to get home, which was 25 miles away for some.

The snowmobile group, which so far has raised more than $7,500, had hoped for 100 women to show up for the charity ride. Some, however, canceled because the run was postponed from Saturday and others just could not see themselves braving Sunday’s wind chill temperatures of minus 45 to minus 55 degree Fahrenheit.

“I’m overwhelmed that we were able to take off today because of the weather,” Dawn Gagnon, president of the group, said Sunday night. “The proof is in the pudding, the defibrillator will happen, along with money for our other causes.”

The Winter Angels Sno Riders of St. John Valley sponsored the for-women-only snowmobile ride. The group members were easily spotted Sunday night with their black sweat shirts, which carried the name of their group on the front and large white angel wings on the back.

Windows at the banquet hall were filled with posters carrying the names of about 100 business and individual supporters for the ride.

Despite the obstacles, 25 did participate, along with four men in case there were mechanical problems, and two law enforcement officers who had been riding with Gilles Levesque when he died of injuries suffered in a snowmobile accident on the weekend of Jan. 27.

The ride was dedicated to Levesque, the 13-year veteran of the Fort Kent Police Department who died Jan. 28.

Maine State Police Trooper Daniel Marquis and Border Patrol Agent Mark Albert were on the ride. Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud and Rep. Marc Michaud, D-Fort Kent, also were on the ride to assist. The group members presented the two Michauds with group sweat shirts for their support.

“We had a good day, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Kenneth Michaud said.

“This was a great effort by these women,” Marquis said. “It was my pleasure to ride with them.”

Part of the proceeds of the run was for Levesque’s family. The women also were riding to raise money to purchase a cardiac defibrillator for the Fort Kent Police Department and for educational materials for an adolescent psychiatric unit opening up in the spring at the Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent. The defibrillator that the group wants to purchase for the Police Department, Janice Michaud said, costs between $3,000 and $4,000.

Because of severe wind chills, the group shortened the trip from its original 180 miles to about 140 miles by rerouting the run and not going to Ashland, one of their pit stops.

“The outback of Australia has to move over,” Janice Michaud told the crowd of nearly 100 people at the finish of the run. “The real survivors are sitting in this room tonight.

“Actually, it was an awesome day, much better than I thought this morning,” Janice Michaud said in an interview at the restaurant. “Some who didn’t ride are here celebrating with us, and they are sorry they didn’t come.”

The group members left Fort Kent around 9 a.m. Sunday, traveled to Carter Brook and Portage Lake. They cut around Ashland, went to the Washburn Snowmobile Club – the club gave them a surprise donation – and then cut over to Caribou and were in St. Agatha by 6 p.m.

The snowmobile ride was like a walkathon. Women gathered pledges to participate and those who gathered the most pledges received prizes from four Fort Kent snowmobile dealers, depending on the kind of sled they were riding.

Karen Whitney got the Yamaha prize for gathering $975 in pledges. Janette Dionne, riding a Ski-Doo, got that prize for collecting $578. Billie Joe Levasseur picked up the Polaris prize for gathering $575 and Cathy King, aboard an Arctic Cat, gathered $58.

Janice Michaud said the group already has a cause for next winter. She wouldn’t divulge the plans, but said they would need to raise between $20,000 and $25,000 to make it happen.

The final tally for the ride won’t be known until the middle of the week. Donations can still be made by calling Dawn Gagnon, 834-2573, Michaud, 834-3701, Lola Charette, 834-6129 and Monique Hebert, 834-2051.