A local historian, farmer and fitness competitor is ecstatic after winning double titles at the Ms. World International pageant, ten years after getting a life-changing cancer diagnosis and beating the odds.

Brenda Cheveldayoff, property owner of the Doukhobor Dugout House National Historic Site near Blaine Lake, Sask., was awarded two titles for both the fitness category and age category after competing at the four-day and five-night long pageant in Miami, Florida in August.

“I thought about this kind of stuff, but I never dreamed I would do it,” Cheveldayoff said. “When I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and told to get my life affairs in order, I got scared and I really got into health and fitness. I became a competitor, fighting for my own life, but at the same time, showing others they can get healthy and do this stuff too.”

She said she believes her survival was linked to her ever-present positive attitude.

Seven years after her diagnosis, Cheveldayoff was sought out and approached by the Ms. World International team, who asked her to begin competing within their pageant system.

“I was thinking, ‘Geez, that’s the states, that’s huge. What is this small-town person going to do in Miami?’”, she said. “I prepared and worked really hard… I had no idea that I would come home with anything, it was tough.”

The World International event is based on team building experiences where delegates participate in group challenges, as well as four phases of individual competitions showcasing each competitor’s “unique beauty, modeling ability and camera appeal”, according to the Ms. World International website.

To reach the international level of competing, delegates must first be crown provincially and nationally.

“Even for Saskatchewan, that was large-scale for me,” she said. “To get there and win that, it’s a steppingstone to be invited to go to the next level.”

Although admitting she was initially intimated, Cheveldayoff said the other competitors are now her life-long friends.

“[I met] different women from all over the world,” she said. “I have friends I met there that can’t speak English, I had to speak with them through a translator. I never want to lose those friendships.”

Being crowned at the international level has inspired Cheveldayoff to continue within the pageant circuit, who said it has all to do with personal motivation.

“It was kind of a goal,” she said. “You have to show up, because it’s only you that it will affect if you don’t. It’s inspiration for other people to be able to do these things, it’s nice to invite them along for my journey.”

Her next competition will be the Golden Prairie Cup in Saskatoon on September 24, a fitness competition sanctioned by the Canadian Fitness Alliance.