Maureen Dowds began her track & field career while attending high school in Goderich, Ontario. In 1965 she moved to Winnipeg and dominated the sport at St. James Collegiate.

In 1968 and 69 she was named the University of Manitoba’s Female Athlete of the Year, the only woman to be so honoured in two consecutive years. In 1968 while playing centre for the Bisons women’s basketball team, she was named the Western Canadian All-Star Centre.

However, her major sport strength was in the area of throwing, and by 1966 Dowds was excelling. While still a high school student, she amazed a field of international athletes by placing third in an international meet of champions.

In 1967, Dowds was a member of the Canadian Senior National team representing Canada at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, and she won a bronze medal with a personal best shot put of 45 feet, 8-1/4 inches. In the same year, she represented Canada at the International Tri Country Meet in Ottawa, finishing third in the shot.

After a brief retirement from 1969-74, she returned in 1975 to set a Canadian native record in the shot at 16.46 metres. In the Lakewood International Meet in California in 1976, she won a gold medal with a shot of 50 feet, 9 inches.

At the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City, Dowds placed fourth in shot put with a personal best throw of 16.46m. This distance remained a Manitoba native record until 1987.

Forced into retirement by a back injury, just prior to the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Maureen Dowds went on to new challenges - Special Olympics and Olympic Aid in Africa. She approached the challenges of these careers with the same conviction as she did her athletic career, and is just as successful.