Marie-Ève Dugas moves forward

In her first national university competition wearing Sherbrooke's Green and Gold, Marie-Ève Dugas did not disappoint.

Her initial goal was simple: to win gold in the 60 metres and the 60 metre hurdles, something she achieved despite being bed-ridden with a nasty virus the week before.

To be precise, she outclassed all opponents who saw her add salt to the wound as she not only beat everyone in both categories but also shaved eight one hundreds of a second off her personal best in the 60 metre hurdles. She ran the race in 8.35 seconds, besting her previous mark of 8.43, set at the Quebec Championships.

"I was quite surprised to run such a good time," she said. "It's very difficult to lower the times in these kinds of disciplines, so clipping almost a tenth of a second is an enormous gain. It's very encouraging."

The previous day, Dugas, a Master's student in Administration, crossed the finish line in the 60 metres ahead of the pack, in a time of 7.59 seconds, good enough for gold. Her time was still four one-hundreds of a second below her personal best, registered in 2005. "It's probably time I beat my personal best (in the 60 metres)," she admitted. "To be honest, I thought I would do it in this competition, but I guess it will have to wait for the next one."

Also at these Indoor Canadian University Games, held at McGill University, Dugas had her first taste of running the 4 by 100 relay, an experience which was not as successful as she might have wished, with the Sherbrooke team finishing ninth.

"I still appreciated the experience," she related. "When I wore the UQUAM colours I never took part in this kind of race. It was time I gave it a try."

With the indoor (winter) track season behind her, Dugas is now preparing for the outdoor trials coming up this summer. She says that the local summer season will be somewhat quiet since this is an Olympic year.

"I'm going to participate in some meets, but nothing too big. I'll be concentrating on my training and on efforts to run faster times."

Photo: Dugas

(Photo: Archives)