QUEBEC GAMES. 10 days from the 55e Final of the Jeux du Québec, the Centre-du-Québec delegation has unveiled the list of athletes who will represent it from July 22 to 30 in Laval. Of these, 70 are residents of the MRC of Drummond.
The 55th Quebec Games Final will take place over 9 days of activity and will be divided into two blocks. Sports competing during Block 1 (July 22-26) will be: track and field, baseball, women’s and men’s basketball, road cycling, swimming, open water swimming and beach volleyball. In Block 2 (July 26 to 30), golf, women’s and men’s soccer, archery, triathlon, mountain biking and women’s and men’s volleyball will be featured. Centre-du-Québec is absent in softball due to a lack of players of the age to participate.
“Despite the challenges that our sports clubs have experienced since the pandemic, we are happy that the region has representatives in almost all sports. This shows how many sports stakeholders we have who work hard throughout the territory to offer various sports experiences to young people, ”explained Maxime Lemire, head of mission for the Centre-du-Québec, in a press release.
Among the Drummond representatives, pole vaulter Maxime-Antoine Vallée, of Saint-Guillaume, is considered one of the delegation’s greatest medal hopes.
“In block 1, we have good hopes of standing out in athletics thanks to Maxime-Antoine Vallée who, to date, sits at the top of the provincial ranking in the under-20s in the pole vault,” added Mr. Lemire. . Maxime-Antoine will take part in his first Jeux du Québec in athletics, but this will be his 4th participation in all sports. He played in diving during the 2015, Drummondville, 2017 and 2019 editions.
The Centre-du-Québec region is positioned respectively in 13th and 16th place in the last summer finals and the chef de mission approaches the next games positively. “In general, we believe we are maintaining good results. Many of our sports teams are in the younger stages, I am thinking, among others, of our soccer and basketball teams. Several athletes will return to the Rimouski Games in 2023. We will also have some nice surprises in Block 2,” said Maxime Lemire.
It is the victoriavillois cyclist, Maxime Corbeil, who will act as standard bearer during the opening ceremony on July 22nd. Aged 16, Maxime Corbeil comes from a sporting family, his brother Antoine Corbeil took part in the last Quebec Games in road cycling as well as in mountain biking. His mother Anne-Marie Deshaies is the coach of the two disciplines in the region. In addition to his 1st position in the Quebec Cup criterium in Laval in 2022, his 2nd position in the ascent of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Charlevoix in 2022 and his 3rd position overall in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Charlevoix in 2022, Maxime represents a medal hope for the delegation in road cycling. A multidisciplinary athlete, he practices several other sports, including ski mountaineering, a discipline for which he currently holds the title of Canadian junior champion.
Remember that the Quebec Games have been postponed for the past two years due to the pandemic context. (LPS)
