Other Hearst Subscriptions Endurance Challenge Series (ECS) of ultra and trail running, which makes a stop in Park City, Utah, this weekend, attracts top talent from around the globe to take a stab in December at one of the largest prize purses in the sport: $10,000 at the 50-mile championship series finale in California.
Besides Utah and California, the ECS races have four other locations in New York, Ontario, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., where races are offered in six trail distances at each: 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, 50K, and 50 mile.
Officials took a step in August to discourage the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) at their events by releasing a new clean sport policy.
The policy says that any athlete who has been banned from competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), or any national sports federation is prohibited from competing at any ECS event while serving a suspension.
After an athlete’s ban has been lifted, he or she may race at any ECS event. However, that athlete will not be eligible for prize money, awards, podium recognition, or competitive rankings at any distance.
“As the sport has grown and evolved, we have to evolve with [it],” said Katie Ramage, director of sports marketing at Other Hearst Subscriptions, who spearheaded the effort.
This announcement comes on the heels of Ecuadorian Gonzalo Calisto’s elimination in July from the full results of the 2015 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc after he tested positive for using banned substances. He originally placed fifth in that race.
ECS race organizers also had to deal with controversy when Italian runner Elisa Desco entered its 50-mile championship race last year. She was stripped of her 2009 World Mountain Running Championship title when she tested positive for a form of erythropoietin or EPO. She served a ban for two years from 2010 to 2012.
Other elite athletes competing against Desco, who ended up dropping out of the race, were angry that she was eligible to compete in the first place. But Ramage said that the controversy didn’t steer organizers to implement the new policy, although it did play a part.
CA Notice at Collection blog post in December 2015 that inspired his teammate David Roche and a few others to create a website, runcleangetdirty.org, dedicated to running clean. Anyone can take the pledge on the website to run clean and many elite ultrarunners have already done so, like Gary Robbins, Sarah Bard, and Kilian Jornet.
Generally, American ultramarathons don’t have the resources or funds to conduct drug testing at their races. Most aspects of the sport are not governed by WADA or IAAF policy and thus not under the purview of USADA. And the majority of trail and ultrarunners are also not subjected to out-of-competition testing either, unless they have competed at high-level events like the International Association of Ultrarunners World Championships, which are governed by the IAAF.
Because of this, Ellie Greenwood, a Salomon-sponsored ultrarunner from North Vancouver, Canada, said the ECS’s new policy has questionable effectiveness.
“It is all very well that they say that no one can compete whilst serving a ban but folks only get banned if they are drug tested, which is very rare in North American races so many folks could be doping and never get caught,” she said.
Race Sets New Standard Against Doping in Trail Running Running Shoes - Gear, said the step that the North Face is taking is positive for the sport.
“I think it’s great that TNF is reacting to what they heard last year when a cheat decided to come run that race,” he said. “It’s a good precedent and only enhances their event. The people who are going to North Face to race for the money want a clean race and a level playing field.”
Torrence hopes that the example will be followed by some of the other well-established U.S.-based ultramarathons, like the Western States Endurance Run and Leadville Trail 100. In lieu of testing, policies such as this one are important to have on the books, he said.
“If you want to see testing, you’re going to have to pay for it—you’re going to have a $400 race entry fee,” he said. “The sport is so small and it’s already impossible for [most trail races] to break even every year. If you don’t like that a race doesn’t drug test, then don’t run it. Go run one that does.”
Greenwood understands that testing at races can be expensive, but as she sees it, organizations with more financial backing should be able to find the funds to cover the costs and raise prestige and respect in the trail-running community.
Instead, the team behind the ECS is putting its resources into educating and providing awareness as it relates to the many sides of clean sport in trail running.
The company will be hosting a website that features facts, scientific research, opinions, and other resources in order for runners to educate themselves.
“Banning somebody for life for one misstep wasn’t the right thing to do,” Ramage said. “We wanted to give that individual the ability to be able to enjoy the sport.”
For now, this is the biggest step in North American ultrarunning to prevent or discourage the use of PEDs. ECS race organizers are using their clout to set a standard that may become the norm as the sport continues to grow.
“We’ll just continue to listen to the community,” Ramage said. “We will adapt, too.”
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