WINDSOR JUNCTION: Abbi Gaudry overcame a lot of obstacles–err hurdles– to earn silver in the 60 metres hurdles at the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) track and field championships recently.
Gaudry, a Lockview High alum, had recovered from COVID-19 just a week before the competition, which limited her training, and had a back issue sustained at a previous meet. Combine those with the fact that athletes had only one actual meet in December before COVID-19 shut things down ending their regular season, there wasn’t many competitions to get one ready for the AUS.
Despite all that, Gaudry said it was a cool experience for her to be at AUS wearing the Dalhousie Tigers colours in her rookie season. The championship was hosted by hosted by the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleu(e)s.
“That was the big meet everyone was kind of looking forward to towards the whole season,” she said. “It was a rough season.
“We had a meet in early December then there was nothing for three months. It was a lot of hard training and there was a lot of injuries. I think most of us were simply happy to be there.”
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Gaudry usually competes in the pentathlon, however the back injury limited her to just the hurdles event. And even that she was hoping the back would be okay enough to compete.
“I’ve been injured the whole season so I couldn’t prepare for the AUS so that was rough and then the COVID hit, and everything just shut down,” said Gaudry. “We were just training and trying to fight through my injury.
She did manage to do the long jump at AUS, however placed fifth.
“I was happy with it,” she said, “considering I hadn’t jumped in a long time I wasn’t expecting much.”
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She said over the next two months she will be taking the time to heal her back properly as she’s been just trying to deal with it through medications.
“I was just going to physio as much as I can to get the pain down as much just to be able to get through the season,” she said. “I’ll just be trying to heal it properly and then Canada games this year. I’ll be training pretty hard this summer to make the Canada Games team.”
Gaudry knows it’ll be an uphill battle to make the Canada Games team.
“I’ll be competing against girls who are four or five years old or six years actually, potentially because you could be up to 24-years-old because COVID-19 increased the eligibility,” said Gaudry. “That’ll be the goal for this year, so it’s what I’ll be focused on.”
Showing the competitor she is, Gaudry said while many would be happy with silver, she wasn’t.
“I was disappointed. I wanted gold,” said Gaudry. “She had a really good race and there were some other factors at the meet that we’re out of my control and they kind of threw off my mental game a little bit.
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“I wasn’t fully in it as much as I think I should have been, and she ran faster and that’s how track goes right.
“I was disappointed because I know I could have run faster. The injuries, combination of everything, were hurdles for me, but I’m happy that I got to compete.”
Gaudry and the Tigers women’s track and field team claimed the women’s team championship banner.
She will attend the U-Sport championships March 31 to April 2 at UNB in Saint John, N.B. to watch it as only the winners get to compete. Watching and taking in the experience is something Gaudry is looking forward to doing.
