as some of you may know - because some of you may be signatories - there's a petition out there (i've asked for the link, and i'll edit this post when i get it) that would oblige ironman to add $5 to everyone's entry, in every full or 70.3 worldwide. (see the poll on this.) here's what the petition asks for, as i understand it:
1. every podium earner at both WCs would be tested, blood and urine.
2. all podiums would be tested in all AGs at 10 of the roughly 150 IM races over these distances each year, and every year the races would rotate.
3. some OOC testing is provided for as well.
4. as a separate matter, all WC entrants would need to enter the ADAMs system, as pros do, whereby you register your whereabouts for the purpose of OOC testing.
the person heading this up is rodolphe von berg, father of pro triathlete rudy von berg, and rudy sr was a very good triathlete in his day and remains a top AG competitor. there are, according to rudy sr., about 2,500 current signatories. as well as i can tell this is simply a proposal for AG athletes.
benefits
5. we have a lot of AG doping most likely, esp at the highest levels. AG testing is spotty and sparse.
6. if you do the math, unless i'm off by a decimal point, the money is probably there. let me take a mad guess that 300,000 annually pay an entry fee into a full or half IM worldwide. in that case, $5 x all entrants = $1.5 million. if a full blood and urine test costs $1,500, then, 72 tests (3 x 24 AGs) x 12 races = roughly $1.3 million.
drawbacks or hurdles
7. that math above doesn't take into account "results management" and that number can be high. it's like paying for the FBI to investigate but not leaving any money left over for federal prosectors to bring cases. if you run up against just 1 intransigent, well funded, AGer who fights his doping test, that "litigation" can cost $hundreds of thousands.
8. you think AGers should be subject to ADAMs whereabouts requirements. sounds good. in my view, this could be chaos. i asked the head of USADA earlier this decade if his org was really ready for AG testing. he answered with an unqualfied yes, and rather indignant that i asked the question. we found out pretty quickly the answer was no, evidenced by the need for retroactive TUEs. if AGers can't manage the TUE process, i don't have a lot of faith in our ability to manage whereabouts requirements.
questions
9. most AGers who race IM aren't fighting for a podium spot. is it fair to ask them to pay for something they don't care about?
10. is it fair to task IM with 100 percent of the responsibility for managing this, collecting and deploying the money? why not $3 tacked on every annual federation membership, and if a federation chooses not do this, then, races held in its country can't be among the random 10 chosen? why not $1 for every tri bike you buy?
11. if this is good for IM, is it good for USAT nationals? for ITU AG WCs? why pick on IM?
that's the landscape on this, from my POV. i guess i'd like to hear yours. a slowtwitcher took a poll on his FB page on something like this; a pretty good sample size responded; i'm not going to give away the result, because of the poll just put up. please, answer the poll, and give us your thoughts below. rudy, if i've misrepresented the facts, please correct what i've written here.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
1. every podium earner at both WCs would be tested, blood and urine.
2. all podiums would be tested in all AGs at 10 of the roughly 150 IM races over these distances each year, and every year the races would rotate.
3. some OOC testing is provided for as well.
4. as a separate matter, all WC entrants would need to enter the ADAMs system, as pros do, whereby you register your whereabouts for the purpose of OOC testing.
the person heading this up is rodolphe von berg, father of pro triathlete rudy von berg, and rudy sr was a very good triathlete in his day and remains a top AG competitor. there are, according to rudy sr., about 2,500 current signatories. as well as i can tell this is simply a proposal for AG athletes.
benefits
5. we have a lot of AG doping most likely, esp at the highest levels. AG testing is spotty and sparse.
6. if you do the math, unless i'm off by a decimal point, the money is probably there. let me take a mad guess that 300,000 annually pay an entry fee into a full or half IM worldwide. in that case, $5 x all entrants = $1.5 million. if a full blood and urine test costs $1,500, then, 72 tests (3 x 24 AGs) x 12 races = roughly $1.3 million.
drawbacks or hurdles
7. that math above doesn't take into account "results management" and that number can be high. it's like paying for the FBI to investigate but not leaving any money left over for federal prosectors to bring cases. if you run up against just 1 intransigent, well funded, AGer who fights his doping test, that "litigation" can cost $hundreds of thousands.
8. you think AGers should be subject to ADAMs whereabouts requirements. sounds good. in my view, this could be chaos. i asked the head of USADA earlier this decade if his org was really ready for AG testing. he answered with an unqualfied yes, and rather indignant that i asked the question. we found out pretty quickly the answer was no, evidenced by the need for retroactive TUEs. if AGers can't manage the TUE process, i don't have a lot of faith in our ability to manage whereabouts requirements.
questions
9. most AGers who race IM aren't fighting for a podium spot. is it fair to ask them to pay for something they don't care about?
10. is it fair to task IM with 100 percent of the responsibility for managing this, collecting and deploying the money? why not $3 tacked on every annual federation membership, and if a federation chooses not do this, then, races held in its country can't be among the random 10 chosen? why not $1 for every tri bike you buy?
11. if this is good for IM, is it good for USAT nationals? for ITU AG WCs? why pick on IM?
that's the landscape on this, from my POV. i guess i'd like to hear yours. a slowtwitcher took a poll on his FB page on something like this; a pretty good sample size responded; i'm not going to give away the result, because of the poll just put up. please, answer the poll, and give us your thoughts below. rudy, if i've misrepresented the facts, please correct what i've written here.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman