Drugs

NiallG4

GoTheDistance wrote: »

It is GOH's motives from his Facebook post are what people are unsettled by here - the drug cheats' debate is separate to this.

With a few rare exceptions over the past few years (Dunshaughlin 2012, DCM 2013, Charleville 2012, RnR Half 2013) GOH has continually avoided competiting against the top elite runners here in Ireland. Yes, he regularly places second to Freddy Keron in marathons and has been second twice in Cork to a quality runner. But outside of this? The remainder of his marathon wins (Clonakilty, Connemara, Kildare, Tralee, Newry, Limerick, etc) were against guys who struggle to break 2-40 and hardly even a challenge to him.

GOH is a nice guy and does a lot of work in Irish athletics circles: training athletes, volunteering, etc. His posting the other evening on Facebook was a direct attempt to ensure that a particular athlete did not compete in the Tullamore Half. It worked.

You obviously don't know Gary. He rarely misses a national championship race for clonliffe. He has run the national 10k on track regularly in recent years, probably 2 out of last 3 national half marathons, probably 6 out of the last 8 national cross country races. He receives calls and facebook messages on a weekly basis from some of these so called elite runners you refer to enquiring if he is running in certain races. He picks his races and goes. He never ever ducks a challenge. As he says the more the merrier. The dogs in the street knew he was doing Tullamore Half. Not his fault nobody shows up. You could not be any more wrong to accuse him of ducking races. In the past 2 years he has competed North and South and raced whoever turned up be it Paddy Hamilton, Ed McGinley up north or Sergui, Sean Hehir, or Freddie in the south. You obviously have a personal issue with Gary but get your facts right before you accuse him of avoiding competition.

Krusty_Clown

GoTheDistance wrote: »

With a few rare exceptions over the past few years (Dunshaughlin 2012, DCM 2013, Charleville 2012, RnR Half 2013) GOH has continually avoided competiting against the top elite runners here in Ireland. Yes, he regularly places second to Freddy Keron in marathons and has been second twice in Cork to a quality runner. But outside of this? The remainder of his marathon wins (Clonakilty, Connemara, Kildare, Tralee, Newry, Limerick, etc) were against guys who struggle to break 2-40 and hardly even a challenge to him.

This doesn't make any sense at all. GOH is a household name on the race circuit because he runs any and every race and is always on the podium. If the 'top elite runners' are not entering those same races, how is this a reflection on him? Should one feel guilty now for being faster than all of the other runners who turn up for a race?

tunguska

There was a comment from Tullamore saying Martin Fagan had never even entered the bleeding race so Im not sure its fair to say Gary was posting as a passive aggressive means of discouraging any other athlete to run.

dukeraoul

As someone who knows a little bit about coming off as a dick online- if I were advising GOH I'd be telling him to maybe think hard about the point of posting his long winded "opinions" on his professional page but hey I ain't advising him

Agree with the sentiment of the doping rant but as said above timing seemed strange and comes off pretty self righteous

Oh and don't get me started on the d bags in the comment section suggesting Fagan be booed. Grow the **** up

walshb

I have some sympathy and understanding for how difficult it must be for athletes to make sure their bodies are free from what the authorities claim are PEDs

"The banned lists, of which there are two, are complicated and extensive. It is unlikely that a single person on this thread hasn't taken something off the banned list, though doing so would not have likely any benefit and most wouldn't know they've done it. Thing like Pseudoephedrine are over the counter and a doping offence if taken within a day of competing. It wouldn't really be fair to ban harshly on this as it has little benefit on its own. Caffeine above a certain concentration WAS on the banned list until very recently."

TFBubendorfer

walshb wrote: »

Caffeine above a certain concentration WAS on the banned list until very recently.

Caffeine was taken off the banned list in 2004 - hardly "very recently".

That paragraph you quoted smells a bit too much like a ready made excuse. It's every athlete's responsibility to ensure they do not take any banned substances. While it is definitely possible to get caught by sheer bad luck and without trying to cheat, this sounds as if someone is trying to get their excuses in early.

walshb

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Caffeine was taken off the banned list in 2004 - hardly "very recently".

That paragraph you quoted smells a bit too much like a ready made excuse. It's every athlete's responsibility to ensure they do not take any banned substances. While it is definitely possible to get caught by sheer bad luck and without trying to cheat, this sounds as if someone is trying to get their excuses in early.

I understand that it is the athletes' responsibility, but is there a body of people out there who are trying to get stuff removed from the list(s)? It's not a perfect list, and across sports not all lists match. I realize that it cannot be a perfect system, and the authorities have to draw the line somewhere, but I still understand how very difficult it must be for athletes. Not only are they watching so so closely on their own ingestion, but they have to place a certain amount of trust in their team as well.

TFBubendorfer

walshb wrote: »

I understand that it is the athletes' responsibility, but is there a body of people out there who are trying to get stuff removed from the list(s)? It's not a perfect list, and across sports not all lists match. I realize that it cannot be a perfect system, and the authorities have to draw the line somewhere, but I still understand how very difficult it must be for athletes. Not only are they watching so so closely on their own ingestion, but they have to place a certain amount of trust in their team as well.

I don't know how it works if you have a team supporting you, but obviously you would have to put your full trust into everyone involved.

What I can tell you is that as a lone, unsupported athlete who is trying to make a team, the whole drugs thing is a bit of a nightmare. For example, Wada recommend that no supplements whatsoever should be taken, ever, because nobody can fully guarantee that there is no cross contamination. So you chuck out all your Vitamin pills, never take any medicine and hope that the mug you use for coffee at work doesn't inadvertently contain traces of some stuff that you have never even heard of.

So yes, it's definitely possible to get caught even if you're 100% honest, just unlucky. However, that paragraph still does not sit right with me (and it clearly has no relation to what happened to MF).

walshb

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I don't know how it works if you have a team supporting you, but obviously you would have to put your full trust into everyone involved.

What I can tell you is that as a lone, unsupported athlete who is trying to make a team, the whole drugs thing is a bit of a nightmare. For example, Wada recommend that no supplements whatsoever should be taken, ever, because nobody can fully guarantee that there is no cross contamination. So you chuck out all your Vitamin pills, never take any medicine and hope that the mug you use for coffee at work doesn't inadvertently contain traces of some stuff that you have never even heard of.

So yes, it's definitely possible to get caught even if you're 100% honest, just unlucky. However, that paragraph still does not sit right with me (and it clearly has no relation to what happened to MF).

Yes, Fagan intentionally cheated. And, I would argue that most athletes that get caught have intentionally cheated.

Was Tyson Gay a possible victim of a cheater in his camp? I know he did try and claim this. I was quite surprised by him getting caught. He always struck me as a clean and genuine athlete. Came across as such.