Sacramento Running News

Earlier today, I found myself in the midst of a mild Facebook debate regarding whether known dopers should be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Nothin’ you can do about it. Dopers always one step ahead of detection,” I was told.

I am not willing to go along with that line of reasoning, because it pretty much means the end of competitive sports.

Also, the history of state-sponsored doping programs shows that turning a blind eye toward chemical cheating leads to a growing pool of victims: the clean athletes who can’t compete with the doped ones, and the children run through dope-fueled, government-operated sports programs.

I’ve written about this before. (more…)

It looks like the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is taking a closer look at masters athletes, having suspended nine already in 2011.

The Associated Press has a story on the USADA’s new focus on masters athletes. As a masters athlete myself, I am personally pleased to see this new scrutiny of my fellow competitors.

Obviously, there are other opinions. Some athletes feel that it doesn’t matter what masters athletes do because there isn’t any money in masters athletics.

All the same, if I’m out there busting my butt in the hunt for an age group placing, I’d like to assume the other guys I’m racing against are all playing from the same rule book.

Since I’m not above naming names, I took a peek at the USADA’s press releases for 2011 and extracted the following list of master track and field athletes who were sanctioned for some doping violation. (more…)