From a press release:
"In an effort to maintain an environment that ensures fair competition and clean sport, the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (IMM) will enact a new anti-doping policy effective Friday, April 17, 2015.
The policy takes aim at systematic doping and takes a strong stance on agents with a record of representing athletes who are currently or who have previously served drug bans. In addition, the IMM will work to actively prevent further infractions; all entrants in the elite field will be subject to random drug testing, beginning in 2015. The full policy is as follows:
To be eligible for elite entry or prize purse at any Monumental Event, an athlete must:
Link to full release here.
Awesome. I hope someday soon baa, nyrr, usatf, iaaf and everyone else has the guts to follow their lead.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
It is sad they had to implement something like this because people don't follow rules.
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
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If everyone followed the rules, you wouldn't have a job.
Haha, true. I just don't understand those who do not follow the rules. Gah!
I completely understand professional athletes who dope. Makes perfect sense and it especially makes perfect sense if you are from a country where the testing is, shall we say, less than rigorous at times and poverty is pervasive.
You come from an impoverished background. It turns out that you have an incredible talent for running. You are among the best in your country and that is in a country where runners are as revered as quarterbacks in the NFL are revered in the United States. However, you have now reached a level where a 1% gain is incredibly difficult to achieve. The good news is that there are chemicals that will allow you to recover faster from hard workouts. Thus, you can do those workouts more often along with putting in higher mileage. Those chemicals will give you that 1%. What does 1% mean? It means struggling along and barely surviving vs. becoming quite wealthy by the standards of where you grew up. The good news is this.
You can take those chemicals while you are out of competition and, because your country doesn't test rigorously, and because there is significant corruption, you are unlikely to be caught outside of international competitions. You can use those chemicals, improve, and then stop long enough for them to be out of your body before international competitions. The additional good news is that you can maintain the gains you achieved from those chemicals for several months even after you stop taking them. So, you can train extra hard, become extra fit, stop taking chemicals, go compete internationally, and make a ton of money. Or you can refuse to take the chemicals and be a pacer who gets paid $5,000 for a race rather than a $100,000 appearance fee. Your choice.
Sort of like baseball before they started getting serious about testing. You could play by the rules and make $1.5 million a year or you could take a few drugs and make $10 million a year from baseball and another $10 million a year from endorsements.
And anyone who tells me they would rather be poor and honest, especially if we're talking about abject, third world poverty, rather than dishonest and wealthy is either a damn liar or has never, ever, ever wondered where their next meal was coming from
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).