World Marathon Majors Adopts Tough Anti-Doping Policy
Posted Friday, 16 June, 2006
From David Monti
© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com
In a joint communiqué issued today, the directors of the world's five top commercial marathons announced that athletes convicted of a doping violation would not invited to compete in World Marathon Majors events even after serving suspensions.
"We'll do anything we can to deter anybody from cheating," said the joint statement generated after two days of meetings in New York City. "The consequences of cheating have to be so Draconian that there's no incentive to cheat. If someone falls afoul of doping regulations, they will not be invited to our events. We must maintain the integrity of our sport, and it has to be us that push this on the athletes. Equally important, we have athletes who share our concern and our drive for our sport to become even more successful than we are currently."
The five marathons, located in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London and New York City, announced the formation of the World Marathon Majors series earlier this year where athletes score points for top-5 finishes in their five races plus IAAF World Championships and Olympic Games marathons, culminating in a $1 million jackpot being awarded after two years. The first jackpot, which will be split evenly between the top male and female point scorers, will be awarded after the final race in the series in 2007. After that, the jackpot will be awarded every year, with two two-year competitions going on simultaneously.
After the first two races in the inaugural series, the BAA Boston Marathon and the Flora London Marathon, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Felix Limo (both of Kenya) lead the men's standings with 25 points each. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya and Deena Kastor of the United States lead the women's standings, also with 25 points apiece.
The next event in the series is the real, Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 24. The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon (Sunday, October 22) and the ING New York City Marathon (Sunday, November 5) will conclude action in the World Marathon Majors for this year.
The series has an official website at www.worldmarathonmajors.com
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