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London 2012 Anti-Doping Laboratory (picture credit LOCOG)Fears raised over doping among Britain's amateur cyclists
Fears have been raised that amateur sportspeople in Britain who cheat by using drugs, including amateurs, are getting away with it because anti-doping authorities lack the resources to conduct testing beyond top-level sports.
The Independent has reported the claims by anti-doping experts a month after UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) revealed that a cyclist who once topped British Cycling’s road rankings had been banned for refusing to undergo an anti-doping control.
Domestic doping
It’s a case that raises the question of how widespread use of performance enhancing drugs is on the domestic scene.
Jason White, who racked up 16 wins on his way to topping the British Cycling 2011 Elite Road Rankings, was banned for two years after admitting that he refused to be tested after he secured third place in the Richardsons-Trek Road Team Road Race in Thaxted, Essex last September.
Less than a fortnight later, the 42-year-old who owns Benfleet bike shop JD Cycles, won a World Masters Track Championship bronze medal in the points race. With his ban only taking effect from November, he’s allowed to keep that.
As a poster to a thread on Timetriallingforum.co.uk pointed out, White’s ban means that four of the top 13 finishers in the 2010 edition of the Jock Wadley Road Race in Colchester, including the riders who finished first and second, have now been sanctioned for breaking anti-doping rules.
The race, run in March 2010, was won by former Team Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, then with Rapha Condor Sharp, who is currently serving a two-year ban for irregularities in his biological passport.
The runner-up in that race, Dan Staite, tested positive for EPO and an aromatase inhibitor from a sample taken at National B race the Roy Thame Cup the previous day. He had been specifically targeted for testing by UKAD following a tip-off.
Besides White, who finished 11th, the 13th placed finisher – Belgian rider Marcel Six, would also receive a subsequent ban for an anti-doping violation.
In 2012, by which time he was riding alongside White at Metaltek-Scott, Six was banned for 18 months for refusing to undergo an anti-doping control following a round of the Tour Series at Canary Wharf, citing a family emergency which meant he had to go straight home.
Rugby dominates list of those sanctioned …
Some 42 individuals are listed on the UKAD website as currently serving a ban for an anti-doping rule violation, or whose ban has expired within the past 12 months.
Half of those are linked to both rugby codes – 16 union and five league. Those are followed by boxing (five), athletics and weightlifting (four each) and cycling (three).
While Tiernan-Locke, White and Staite are all currently banned, one other British cyclist has been subject to a doping sanction in the past 12 months.
Bruce Croall, who rode on the track for Scotland at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, had finished a six-month ban earlier in the year after testing positive for a banned amphetamine that turned out to have been present in a contaminated energy supplement he took.
… but youngsters are under pressure
The Independent says that young rugby players, including teenagers, many of whom figure on the banned list, are under pressure to build their body mass.
As the Independent points out, most of the names on the list are amateur athletes, but there are also coaches who have been caught encouraging young sportspeople to take performance enhancing drugs.
Those are Welsh boxing coach Philip Tinklin, banned for life for supplying steroids to his teenage daughter Sophie, herself banned for four years, and Clive Peters, rugby union coach to Surrey’s Under 15 to Under 18 teams, who spent £20,000 buying steroids from abroad.
MAMILs on PEDs?
In cycling, stories emerge from time to time of riders participating in sportive or Gran Fondo events on the Continent being caught using drugs.
Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer in Sport at the University of Stirling wrote, in an article published last month on The Conversation called Forget Lance Armstrong, the next big cycling doper could be your dad: “There is every reason to fear that the same problem has reached the UK – or will in due course.”
After detailing instances of middle aged amateur riders caught doping in the US, he says: “The conditions that led to it happening in the US are certainly emerging. In parallel with the huge rise in cycling popularity in the US, cycling has risen to become the third-most-popular sport in the UK.”
He says the easy availability of drugs including EPO on the internet, as well as prescription of testosterone supplements to men in their 40s and 50s are among the factors contributing to a rise in drug abuse among amateurs.
A spokesperson for UKAD told the Independent: “Steroid abuse is a concern for UKAD and we are seeing a worrying increase in its use by young people.
“Our focus in addressing such use must be where it impacts on competitive sport.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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34 comments
I take John Smith's & Black Sheep on a regular basis, occasionally in large quantities.....is this considered performance enhancing?
The reason people get caught at gran fondo's is that you need a race licence to ride them (partly because it garantees everyone has 3rd party insurance and at least a moderate level of skill) and therefore people have signed up to anti doping rules. There is also potential to earn quite as decent amount.
Your average UK Sportive is not the same and no race licence means riders haven't (necessarily) signed up to anti-doping.
Personally I'm quite glad amateur racers are getting caught. It suggests it's not being completely ignored so hopefully avoids a free for all.
The reason people get caught at gran fondo's is that you need a race licence to ride them (partly because it garantees everyone has 3rd party insurance and at least a moderate level of skill) and therefore people have signed up to anti doping rules. There is also potential to earn quite as decent amount.
Your average UK Sportive is not the same and no race licence means riders haven't (necessarily) signed up to anti-doping.
Personally I'm quite glad amateur racers are getting caught. It suggests it's not being completely ignored so hopefully avoids a free for all.
I actually feel sorry for someone who feels the need to cheat at an amateur level. How empty your life must be to do this. I mean if we have reached the point where a cat 2 or 3 is cheating its a sign you aren't going to be any good and you may as well call it a day and just enjoy riding your bike again.
Do you or would you feel that 'sorry for someone' when a rider or some team uses a non-homologated part? Or has a part before anyone else has the chance to buy it or get a hold of it. Or a mechanic has figured out a hack or way around machine regulations without getting caught.
Gosh its all a bit doom and gloom here isn't it? That's somewhat jarring against my experiences to date.
Ok, I've seen a few amphetamine stares in France, and I'm sure everyone is doing everything they can get away with at UK elite level, but honestly, its not as bad as is being made out here.
I'm pretty shit, and if I can get around OK, I'm sure there are few genuinely talented people out there missing out to the doping connoisseurs...
More to the point... if I can get around and everyone else is off their tits, its a great example of how ineffective the majority of doping is.
And that's certainly the message I present to the young riders I interact with.
What about the cheats on Strava who keep pushing me down the standings, when it blows a gale!!!
Lol, I did this to myself about a month ago, noticed the wind and thought I'd have a go at one of my favourite little sprints. Now I've just wrecked it for myself, can't get anywhere near it now...
Imagine if you will... you've got absolutely pinging form, you're on your race bike, fresh legs, steely conviction and its a float day. What better occasion to have a go at one of the local seminal climbs...
On your way to this climb you bump into someone you know, who after having the concept of strava explained to him, downloads the app and joins you.
You hit the target hill and give it everything, 11mins and 20 seconds of pure, pacing perfection, getting everything out... there is nothing more to be had, no corners to cuts, no performance to be found... this is your defining ascent of this climb.
Its a great feeling... right up to the point where you upload Strava and the file corrupts that is... only compounded by fact that your little ride companion (who hung onto your wheel for dear life all the way up the climb), his file uploaded just fine, and is now the proud KOM.
I know I will never go up that climb that fast again... Sob
Juice it baby! I love it.
Knew, not new!
PED use in the UK reflects the importance of the sport, so is not as widespread as on the continent. Not many rising stars in cycling are racing around industrial estates in Skelmersdale. Racing in Belgium and the Netherlands is a different kettle of fish, as the possibility to make a living, get noticed, get a contract, get a career all means the temptation to self assist is far stronger. I raced there, and there were more than a few thousand yard stares on the start line...
I'm sure it goes on, I'm sure the problem will worsen over time, and I'm sure the casual attitude of the gym boys will infiltrate cycling soon enough.
The answer is targeted testing; choose a level of performance, be it 1st cat or higher and test, test, test then ban, ban, ban.
I know.......... You fooking idiot.... Auto spell is a pain in the arse. Keep your English corrections to yourself or for your kids.
Well that's what I was thinking, as a diabetic on Insulin, should I have a chaperone like that Olympic rower had to have, to make sure I don't use it for doping
If I ride a sportive after a 5-day course of prednisolone for my asthma aka 'doing a Froome'. Should I hand my finishers medal back?
I sometimes take cetirizine to relieve a spot of something-allergy in the spring. Just one cheap tablet, and I notice a massive improvement in my ability to take in air even on club rides.
So they test at sportive?
Don't be silly, it's a non competitive event, despite what many riders on them think.
This.
But the real reason that doping in the UK isn't at continental levels is that racing in the UK is a good number of degrees less important than elsewhere.
It is only cycling that amateur doping is below the rest of the world. I have worked in human/sports performance for 26yrs and PEDs are everywhere, back in the day it was from a man who new a dog who new a man. It's now easier than ever to get hold of, along with how to beat the tests for the lesser PEDs. Just a few clicks away that's all, using the right keywords it's easier to purchase than Tesco online shopping.
From a junior to young adult I fought at international level as a judo player, but eventually I had to wrap it in as I was fighting guys at 6-7% BF at 16-17 weighing 70kg of solid mass, I new what was going on as people were injecting in the saunas. I had no chance due to power to weight ratios and increased muscular endurance. Even when I joined the military PEDS were offered by the PT staff, epherdrine & testosterone being the weapons of choice, this was in the 80s, so it wasn't Armstrongs fault to be fair.
Epherdrine lost its fashionable status thankfully a number of years ago, however, over the last 18 months or so it has started to raise its head again. To echo a post above, I did a sportive last year and chatted to a BAC mamil for a few miles, when he produced a high 5 electrolyte tube flipped the top off and swollowed the lot, I asked and with no shame he said "ECA stack". He was overweight & sweating like a nun in a sex shop, his answer, a drug that raises your already raised HR
It is only cycling that amateur doping is below the rest of the world. I have worked in human/sports performance for 26yrs and PEDs are everywhere, back in the day it was from a man who new a dog who new a man. It's now easier than ever to get hold of, along with how to beat the tests for the lesser PEDs. Just a few clicks away that's all, using the right keywords it's easier to purchase than Tesco online shopping.
From a junior to young adult I fought at international level as a judo player, but eventually I had to wrap it in as I was fighting guys at 6-7% BF at 16-17 weighing 70kg of solid mass, I new what was going on as people were injecting in the saunas. I had no chance due to power to weight ratios and increased muscular endurance. Even when I joined the military PEDS were offered by the PT staff, epherdrine & testosterone being the weapons of choice, this was in the 80s, so it wasn't Armstrongs fault to be fair.
Epherdrine lost its fashionable status thankfully a number of years ago, however, over the last 18 months or so it has started to raise its head again. To echo a post above, I did a sportive last year and chatted to a BAC mamil for a few miles, when he produced a high 5 electrolyte tube flipped the top off and swollowed the lot, I asked and with no shame he said "ECA stack". He was overweight & sweating like a nun in a sex shop, his answer, a drug that raises your already raised HR
Most of us who have done any racing will have seen someone juicing. Sad but true.
From my experience... pro-active doping is minimal at Nat A status in the UK.
Most of the young guys reaching this level are naive to that level of performance enhancement, and what they are presented with when getting there is mainly folk juicing up on Tramadol and caffeine.
I don't think there is a quandary facing most youngsters coming in to the sport... that comes much later on.
I remember riding with Dan Staite when juiced and it was notable. As for Sixt and White... we'll never know what they were up to, but my take would be stimulants of some kind. Jon Locke was playing (or not depending on your view) at a totally different level when caught. There is no one that would have accused him of doping back in 2010.
Personally, I'd suggest the majority of doping comes in the lower and senior age related categories. People with nothing to lose, and to be honest, nothing really to gain. They are a different generation, have the funds and more often then not the means to do so. However, thats not exactly a big deal!
It doesn't surprise me, not one bit. I see quite a few people I compete against who have put on muscle mass very quickly. It sets a terrible example to younger riders, as well as being blatant cheating. Those who dope also face health risks, which they may not be aware of. Roll on the checks for winners in key events, amateur or not, I say.
I'm not sure why this matters too much. If people want to risk their health there's plenty of ways to do it. Bringing in testing for amateur events will make them prohibitively expensive.
Also bear in mind the number of over the counter remedies that would cause positives...
Those that graduate to pro status will be found out and thrown out very quickly.
I'm not sure why this matters too much. If people want to risk their health there's plenty of ways to do it. Bringing in testing for amateur events will make them prohibitively expensive.
Also bear in mind the number of over the counter remedies that would cause positives...
Those that graduate to pro status will be found out and thrown out very quickly.
What! What was that. It matters more than pro racing because many youngsters will be left in the dilemma of wanting to be a clean rider but thinking (even if it isn't true) that they are in a dirty race. That's when young ambitious riders think they need to start "taking something".
It's bad enough when they're older and some pro team starts asking them to do it. By then though they should have shown that they can do it cleanly and mature enough to know the line they are crossing.
That brought a little chuckle and smile to my lips, I envy you your naivety.
This is just about the dumbest thing I've read in a while.
Those that say they don't have a problem with doping, this is the trickle down effect. Amateur riders doping without medical assistance doing goodness knows what damage to themselves. Beyond that there is the fact that cheating starts to destroy the sport for all - not even just those in pro circles.
And beyond, if you think that it is easy to catch pro-dopers think again. Those that get caught are 'unlucky', or more often nobbled by disgruntled insiders.....check out the move 9.78 and explain anyway Carl Lewis' training partner in the testing room.
done local road races (3/J and 2/3) and noticed a couple of riders juicing up.
(and this was a long time ago 1985 or 86 and 1997).
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