2012 Comrades winner tests positive

nerraw1111

http://www.runnersworld.co.za/news/comrades-champ-stripped-of-title/

"The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) confirmed today that the 2012 Comrades winner, Ludwick Mamabolo, has tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine and could face a two year ban and be stripped of his title if found guilty by an independent tribunal."

Wonder what impact this might have on ultra running?

Enduro

Ultra running is regulated in the same way as the rest of athletics w.r.t. testing etc, so I doubt this will have any significant impact.

(The first question that springs to my mind is if he was going to bother doping, why didn't he go for EPO (exactly the same thought I had about Floyd Landis when he was snared).)

That's the first time I'm aware of this happening in Ultra running. Sad for the sport that a top athlete is acused of doping. Great for the sport that the testing is catching cheats.

Pherekydes

This is the drug that Yohan Blake got a 3 month ban for. I can't see him getting 2 years, but maybe the powers that be will feel that positives like this will make it seem like they're catching cheats when all they're catching is people who are using the wrong nasal decongestants.

Peterx

People cheat and take drugs in all sports, catching them is the main thing so it's potentially good for any sport that cheats are caught I would have thought.

nerraw1111

A few ultra guys on the Twitter machine appeared to suggest that with the rise in popularity of ultra running, along with bigger prize purses, that you might see more of this sort of thing.

Interestingly, Comrades themselves were tweeting news stories of the case.