Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 122, September 2019 | Page 32

Double-Checking
There have been a few drug DQs at Comrades
over the years, which I believe shows that testing
is working. That said, of the top male and female
contenders at the 2019 Comrades, the only athlete
I’m aware of who had previously tested positive
for banned substances was Joseph Mphuthi, the
2018 men’s runner-up, who finished 22nd this year.
He served a two-year ban after testing positive for
nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, after the Loskop
50km Ultra in 2014.
I was curious as to why he was not on the RTP
list, but Khalid explained that a large number of
factors like performance, sport priority and financial
incentives are used to determine who is on the RTP
list, which is then reviewed on a quarterly basis.
However, just because someone is not on the RTP
list does not mean that they will not be subjected to
random out-of-competition (OOC) testing. “We do,
and have also targeted athletes OOC that do not fall
into this RTP, thus it does not mean that athletes who
are not in this RTP cannot be tested.”
I was also curious as to whether the many top
Comrades athletes from neighbouring countries could
potentially cheat the system thanks to less rigorous
anti-doping agencies in their countries. “We have
worked with our partners in Southern Africa, the
RADO (Regional Anti-Doping organisation) Zone VI,
which includes Lesotho and Zimbabwe, where some
of the top Comrades contenders originate, to test
athletes. Furthermore, in-competition testing has been
conducted at the Comrades for the past 20 years,”
says Khalid.
Rigorous Testing
Overall, the profile of ultra events in South Africa
means that local elite athletes are subjected to
extremely robust and comprehensive testing
procedures. Cuan Walker, currently involved with
team management for the Nedbank Elite Team,
which produced both the male and female winner at
Comrades 2019, highlights the rigours of drug testing
at Comrades. “The testing at Comrades is proper, and
even more so for South African athletes compared to
the international athletes. Many of the South African
athletes are tested out of competition. I witnessed
this myself in Dullstroom – athletes were tested three
times in the space of 10 days. Some internationals get
tested when they arrive in SA, and then again after the
race, if they are in the top 10.”
I also chatted to John Hamlett, coach of the Entsika
Elite Team, at his Dullstroom training camp. He
commented that, whilst he is fully supportive of anti-
doping measures, the athletes are “over-tested to the
point of absurdity.” He added that the SAIDS team
will usually make several visits during his three-month
long Comrades training camp, and will take up to
seven hours at a time to test every single person at
the camp.
That should clear up any misconceptions about the
current state of doping controls at Comrades. It’s
very comprehensive! Although it’s always possible
that someone is cheating the system, it’s unlikely
that they will get away with it indefinitely – and they
can be caught retroactively, thanks to the RTP list
and biological profiles. (This also means that any
athletes who later have the integrity of their records
questioned can easily clear their name by releasing
their blood data, although strangely, most seem
reluctant to do so.)
Back at ya, Jim!
Now let’s flip this discussion around and look at what
kind of doping controls an American elite ultra-runner
would be subjected to. According to an interview
with 2017 Comrades women’s winner from the USA,
Camille Herron, pretty much nothing: No OOC testing,
and only a couple of the high-profile ultras take
samples from winners.
It’s also highly unlikely that someone will be caught
with this ‘in competition only’ approach, as Camille
explains: “Where there is in-competition drug testing
is the races like Comrades, Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc,
and Two Oceans, where I did my first ultra, but
you’d have to be stupid to get caught. Everybody
knows these races do drug testing, so they would be
knocking off whatever they’re doing in order to not
test positive.”
Ironically, considering Jim’s scepticism, it thus
appears that drug testing of South African ultra-
runners is a lot more frequent and comprehensive
than that in the USA. But, in an effort to avoid being
an ignorant hypocrite myself, I referred my views and
opinions to some American friends. One of them, who
prefers to remain anonymous since he competes with
the likes of Jim, provided these excellent perspectives
on the lack of doping controls in the USA: “We
basically don’t have a governing body for the sport.
USA Track & Field is broke and doesn’t want to touch
ultra-running. Secondly, the US has size restrictions
on ultra races that prevent them from being large
enough to offer prize money of more than a few
hundred bucks, and third, there’s so little money in
the sport at any level, that to test athletes would likely
require forcing athletes to pay for testing themselves!”
He adds that the elite ultra-runners in the US generally
want to see testing, but unfortunately there’s a huge
financial barrier to that occurring, so it’s only a couple
of races with enough prestige to have sponsors that
have the budget to test athletes, like the Western
States 100.
Let’s Settle This
The Comrades Marathon Association has announced
that both 2020 and 2021 will be Down Runs, so
we’ll have to wait three years until the next batch of
athletes attack the Up record. Of course, the best
and easiest way to settle this argument would be
for someone to break the Up record, preferably a
South African on the RTP list. I mean, we’d love our
foreign guests to enjoy the unique experience that
is the Comrades Marathon without having to trouble
themselves over the integrity of our records.
And as for you Jim, we’re happy to take the piss
out of you before you run Comrades, but if you do
manage a top 10 finish, the South African Institute for
Drug-Free Sport will be delighted to take the piss out
of you afterwards!
Sidenote: Full Disclosure: The author has never taken
drugs whilst running, except one time when he ran
the Two Oceans Ultra with a broken big toe. On this
occasion he accepted a Myprodol in Hout Bay from an
old school friend, shortly after being overtaken by his
wife. (The two events may or may not be connected.)
The remainder of his 217 marathons and ultras have
been run clean. He has run seven marathons in the
USA, and has never made disparaging remarks about
any of them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This is a reworked version of one of Stuart’s blogs, which usually focus on his
adventures (and sometimes misadventures) while running marathons and ultra-marathons all over South
Africa, and occasionally in other countries. He recently fulfilled a lifetime goal of securing a shoe sponsorship
from The Sweatshop branch in Broadacres, thus allowing him to run more races and share their stories. You
can read his original blogs at http://runningmann.co.za, and follow him on social media @runningmann100.
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ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
throw some fuel on the fire of common international
conceptions – David Gatabe has a better chance of
being eaten by a lion on the streets of Sandton, than
he does of being able to run Comrades juiced and get
away with it!