Running Under False Name, Drug Cheat Alane Emere DQd from Peachtree
Posted Friday, 8 July, 2005
By David Monti
(c) 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
July 7, 2005
At the conclusion of last Monday's Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Ga., there was an unfamiliar name high up in the results: Amara Leta. Leta, listed as a 24 year-old from Ethiopia, finished sixth in 28:43, earning $1500.
Two days later, an anonymous posting on the LetsRun.com message board identifed Leta as Alene Emere, the Ethiopian who had run for a Japanese corporate team until he was suspended for a doping infraction late in 2001, the same year he finished second at Peachtree.
Simultaneously, the mysterious Leta was identified to RRW via e-mail by U.S. agent, Hussein Makke, as a Sudanese athlete. The athlete, whom Makke did not represent, was coming to Makke's West Chester, Pa., office for a meeting. At that meeting, Makke asked him to produce his passport, but the athlete was reluctant to do so, claiming it was missing. Makke's assistant, Kim Saddic, told Makke that she recognized Leta as Emere. He finally turned over his passport, and Makke confirmed Saddic's observation.
Makke called Liz Unislawski at the Atlanta Track Club, organizers of the Peachtree Race, to let her know of his discovery. The A.T.C. had previously decided not to invite Emere to the event, and he apparantly came to Atlanta at his own expense, supplied a different name, and entered the race clandestinely. Upon getting the news that Amere had misrepresented himself, the A.T.C. disqualified him.
"We have DQd him from our race and asked his prize money be returned," said Unislawski in an e-mail to RRW. "The results will be adjusted."
Before being suspended, Emere had a very strong year in 2001. He won the Japanese national championships at both 5000m and 10,000m (foreign runners representing Japanese corporate teams are allowed to compete), running 13:26.33 and 27:29.53, respectively. On the U.S. road circuit, he was second at Peachtree, third at the Utica Boilermaker, First at the Crazy 8's 8-K. He is scheduled to run at Crazy 8's on 16-Jul according to a press release recently sent by the event.
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