I just came across this article and my first thought was why the hell announce this? They would have gotten a lot better handle on ultra running drug use if they would have just done the testing unannounced.

Especially a race day test that are notorious for being beat if known in advance. Now they should just do some out of competition tests, more reliable.

PED use in the ultra running world is a weird topic. Many of the recent twitter debates have been around whether athletes should be banned for their open use of marijuana. It all started when Avery Collins, who is very open about being a "CannAthlete" and is sponsored by various cannabis products, won his golden ticket to WSER at GA Death Race. Other elite runners claimed he "stole" the ticket from the next placed runner because he opening uses cannabis for recovery and training. Since winning, Avery has stated that he has no issues with testing at WSER and will be racing this year under the new policy.

There were also a few ramblings last year when an athlete who served a WADA ban tried to run the Northface Endurance Challenge Championships. Northface changed the rules and said they support drug-free running and anyone with a WADA ban was prohibited to participating. They then expanded their position to state that anyone who has ever served a WADA ban isn't eligible for prize money, awards, etc.

To date much of the bans/testing has been reactionary to individual situations and not really focused on removing PEDs from the sport.

Maybe they aren't planning to, or can't afford to actually do many tests, so instead are trying to deter people?

Since that race is in my back yard, kudos to them

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Isn't that technically legal? It's an in-competition ban. And a threshold drug at that.

About time.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Cannabis is on WADAs list of banned drugs I believe, even though I think they changed the threshold.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Cannabis is banned by WADA at some threshold. But ultra running is NOT regulated by WADA. As long as there isn't a race specific rule, you could wear a testosterone patch on your forehead or smoke crack at an aid stations and not be in violation of of any policy. Typically, sports are governed by a Federation that signs onto WADA and thus, all participants in that Federation's events are bound by WADA rules. We do not currently have a Federation so all we have right now is race by race rules. And the GA Death Race had no such rule so Avery gets his ticket.

edited to correct some auto-correct errors.

On the USADA athlete's guide cannabis is under the "Prohibited In-Competition" section which has this text:

My reading is that it's fine to use when you're not competing. Though you'd have to be very careful to ensure you're under threshold by competition date.

Banned in competition. My argument is that "training and recovery" would be technically legal under WADA rules.

I agree. As long as he is under threshold. But without testing, we don't know.

I actually do not care either way whether Avery uses cannabis, when he uses it, and what his levels are. Based on the rules, he is racing under he could toked up along the course and not be in violations. It was just amusing watching/reading some of the biggest names in ultra running fight this one out on twitter. If I was them, I would be more concerned with athletes who are taking actual PEDs. Hopefully other international races will take the lead of WSER and bans (backed up with testing) will become more common.

Most races in their rules state some sort of zero-tolerance policy. Id be very surprised if the Georgia Death Race didn't have something like the below as part of their rules. Not that I really care about what happened, but if the Georgia Death race rules stated something like the below and weed was smoked its very possible that he could've been in violation. But as there were no tests we wont know.



The Western States Endurance Run has a zero-tolerance policy regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Any athlete who has been determined to have violated anti-doping rules or policies, whether enforced by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), or any other national sports federation is ineligible for entry into the Western States Endurance Run. The Western States Endurance Run reserves the right to conduct pre and post-competition testing for any and all performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) listed on the current WADA Prohibited List. Any athlete who refuses to submit to anti-doping controls, if selected for testing, shall be disqualified and subject to a lifetime ban from the Western States Endurance Run.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

I got drugged tested at the end of 70.3 St George.

The experience might be one of the highlight of my racing year.

First - it provides a great opportunity to brag about how I was the first amateur to finish. (All the faster people were in later waves and didn't have time to catch me).

Second - I got to hang out with Alistair Brownlee, Brent McMahon and Holly Lawrence.

Third- I got a chance to look at Holly Lawrence close up. She is a goddess.
But is usually moving too quickly for me to catch a good glance.

Truest thing ive ever read on Slowtwitch and I have yet to see her in person.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

If I remember correctly, the WSER rules you listed were added in the winter of 2016 following the various controversies at UMTB and NFEC.

I quickly skimmed the GA Death Race rules (https://docs.google.com/...Fo3-sa3qROuRg8/edit#) and didn't see any similar language. They do mention following all laws but that seems a bit general. I have been running ultras for close to 10 years and I can't remember ever seeing a drug policy in an athlete guidebook. It could have been in a waiver at registration as I don't read those as carefully. I would be interested to see if any other races have written policies. Or if more are adopted in the future.

I might have been delirious from dehydration and exertion....
but oh my god.

Aphrodite herself never looked that good.

I would love to hang out with just one of these people, never mind all three.

Do tell us more...

Many of us are VERY jealous of you and I couldn't give a rats ass about Allister or Brent.

re the marijuana issue it's amazing how many people don't understand what is and isn't permitted by WADA.

Many years ago as positive test result happened at anything above 15 ng/ml. However, that was changed under what has been referred to as the "snow boarding rule"* and is now set at 150 ng/ml. Essentially what that means is you can't be toking during competition or immediately beforehand. Most people will be well below that level even having smoked or marijuana the day before the event/testing.

Incidentally WSR has said they will be following the WADA rules re testing and standards.

* comes from an appeal of a positive result at the 1998 Olympics by a snow boarder.

You do know that ultra running is a bigger sport than a bunch of trail races in the US?

Some ultras are certainly regulated by WADA, especially those conducted under the patronage of IAAF. For example, Maria Bak tested positive for PEDs and was subsequently DQed after placing 2nd in the 100km Worlds in 1998.

But yes, more widespread and thorough testing in the sport is definitely not a bad thing.

So you had to piss in a bottle then?