NATURALLY SPEAKING by John Douglas
It goes without saying that the Natural stream in Canada is strong and growing by the year . A lot of hurdles came into play during the infancy of this movement . Many fine people helped set up the infrastructure and protocols we are still using today .
The CPA has furthered the Natural stream and enhanced all the protocols for running a successful Natural stream of Regional Contests as well as Pro Qualifiers .
One of the largest hurdles everyone faced is testing . Is it necessary , in a word yes ! We do rely heavily on an individual athletes ’ integrity when they enter a natural contest . Alas , some still find it necessary to use banned substances in the hope they will “ get away with it ”. Hence the need for testing .
How do you know which substances are banned ? Olympic type testing ( WADA ) was , for the longest time the standard for all tests in our community . Over the years this proved prohibitive from a logistical and cost standpoint . Testing was completed at very few labs in Canada and the costing kept rising to unheard of levels . The CPA adopted a newer set of guidelines and now recommend a site ; www . globaldro . com . Your coach should be able to tell you as well but in my opinion it is always better to be sure .
Testing is a random process . The Regional contests that are randomly picked to be tested are not announced , the athletes other than the overalls are not announced and tests samples are collected immediately following your exit from the stage , no exceptions . Natural Pro Qualifiers are always tested but the athletes who are tested are again randomly picked among the winners and may also be a randomly picked competitor regardless of placing . Samples are sent to the labs we use and results generally take a couple of weeks .
Part of running a Natural stream and knowing testing may occur at any given show also left the organization with another challenge . What to do with the athlete who requires medications that may contain a small percentage of a banned substance ? The solution , an application submission with the specific substance listed , your prescription and an explanation from your physician . In all cases such as these a special TUA form needs to be filled and sent directly to the chairman of the CPA banned substance testing committee and determination will be made by the executive .
It was also necessary to put an appeals process in place and if you have followed all the protocols as outlined above , this may help with your case .
Given all the CPA has done to further the Natural stream in Canada and influence the industry nationwide there are still detractors . These folks are very outspoken on what , how , when and who should be tested . Some say everyone should be tested and that is fair but at what cost . With an average cost per test well over $ 500 , is that practical ? Your registration fees would rise significantly . Others say test everyone and do it multiple times . For some , blood tests are the way to go but that would prove to be truly invasive . Lie detectors are the preferred method for others , they are not accurate and not approved in our Canadian Legal system .
The CPA has looked at this for many years and experienced people are supervising our drug testing protocols and administering fair and practical solutions but we still must rely on an individuals ’ honesty .
The punishment for a positive test for your first offence is a loss of your placing or Pro Card award and a oneyear suspension from competition and for a second offence , a possible lifetime ban .
Our next article will cover more recent history of the Natural stream , watch for it this November .