i was drugs tested yesterday (yipppeeee!) with 5 others. Out of curiosity I asked the drugs testers what would happen if I or one of the others could not pee before we had to go for flights (for example Christine had a flight from Edinburgh and I had to get one from Inverness and neither of us had that much time - if it had taken me as long this time as it has previously taken me I would have missed my flight) I was told that if I could not pee then I had to make alternative arrangements - I could leave but that would effectively be refusing to do the test and I would fail. I asked what they would do about travel arrangements for me and I was told that I would have to make alternative arrangements - they would not fund these and I would have to ask my federation! so the question is - should BOF arrange to have testing done after races like this (Sunday in Inverness) where many athletes will have to travel a long distance afterwards - could this not have been done after the short race? and if this situation arises again should BOF be expected to pay for alternative transport. Does an athlete effectively refusing to take a test have any impact on BOF funding or would it just have had an impact on me personally (in which case why should BOF pay?)
Finally I have been drugs tested at the last 2 british champs I have attended (and also the Irish Champs) - interestingly I didn't notice any real contender for GB WOC team being drugs tested - is this a waste of BOFs money? Surely the selection criteria can be narrowed to state 3rd/4th/5th squad member finishing rather than 3rd/4th/5th starter?
Drugs Testing
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Re: Drugs Testing
Toni wrote:interestingly I didn't notice any real contender for GB WOC team being drugs tested - is this a waste of BOFs money? Surely the selection criteria can be narrowed to state 3rd/4th/5th squad member finishing rather than 3rd/4th/5th starter?
I guess it's not BOF's money, it's UK Sport's money, but it does seem a bit of a strange way of doing things. If they are testing on the Sunday you'd have thought they could at least take the top 3 finishers from Saturday or some such rather than a completely random selection.
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Ed - diehard
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Re: Drugs Testing
Toni wrote:Does an athlete effectively refusing to take a test have any impact on BOF funding or would it just have had an impact on me personally (in which case why should BOF pay?)
My understanding is that it would be BOF's reaction to you missing the test that would be important. Drug testing rules are that a missed test is an admission of guilt (i.e. the onus is put on the athelete not the testing body). For a sport to be included in the Olympics it has to sign up to the IOC's drug testing policy, which would be a two year ban for missing such a test. I am not sure of the funding bodies rules on drug testing, but it would not surprise me to find out that they were roughly in line with the IOC's and that they would withdraw funding if BOF did not act appropriately in such a case.
Toni wrote:Finally I have been drugs tested at the last 2 british champs I have attended (and also the Irish Champs) - interestingly I didn't notice any real contender for GB WOC team being drugs tested - is this a waste of BOFs money? Surely the selection criteria can be narrowed to state 3rd/4th/5th squad member finishing rather than 3rd/4th/5th starter?
UK Sport's Drug Testing. Worth a read. States that funding is removed 'for life' from the competitor for 'failure to comply with request to submit to a test'. How this would effect orienteering, where I believe the team is funded not an individual, would be down to BOFs reaction (i.e. said person would not be able to receive any of the money).
The randomised testing is due to the UK Sports rules. They choose who is picked to submit a test. The reason for it being for anyone from elite is that the objective is to keep UK orienteering free from drugs. The world orienteering is the resposibilty of IOF.
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Simon - brown
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Kitch wrote:You make a good point, it makes no sense to arrange testing on a Sunday when there is a Saturday race.
Do that and the potential travel issue goes away.
I have every sympathy with the problem of trying to produce a sample on a hot day (and trying not to produce more on the flight later on!) but
I dont see BOF has a choice - its supposed to be random drug testing, not random-except-not-on-Sundays. Not testing on Sundays would allow anyone so minded to take drugs with impunity for the British Champs.
Graeme
WOC2024 Edinburgh
Test races at SprintScotland (Alloa/Falkirk) and Euromeeting (near Stirling).
Test races at SprintScotland (Alloa/Falkirk) and Euromeeting (near Stirling).
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graeme - god
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Should BOF then respond to this and indicate if they are willing to fund alternative travel arrangements?
I had an interest in not failing given that I may wish to run in WOC this year but others who were tested may not care if they fail a test - 2 hours from notification to when I had to leave may is not long enough and others were notified 40-50 minutes after me - Should there not be at least enough staff attending a Sunday race to be able to go with the athlete to the airport if necessary - that would have made a difference of 2 hours on Sunday but they said that they didn't have enough staff to do that unless all the other athletes had completed their tests!
I had an interest in not failing given that I may wish to run in WOC this year but others who were tested may not care if they fail a test - 2 hours from notification to when I had to leave may is not long enough and others were notified 40-50 minutes after me - Should there not be at least enough staff attending a Sunday race to be able to go with the athlete to the airport if necessary - that would have made a difference of 2 hours on Sunday but they said that they didn't have enough staff to do that unless all the other athletes had completed their tests!
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Toni - light green
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I think you've been unlucky being tested twice!
It's the sought of thing that would never get decided in advance unfortunately, but in the unlikely event of a randomly selected runner not being able to produce and having to get away for transport I'd hope that BOF would compensate for travel arrangements, no matter who the runner. I'm sure all runners no matter whether they care for whether they are running WOC or not would not want to fail by refusing the test so would hang around.
Interesting question though. I don't often take pills for anything but I'd never check for banned substances if I did. Is the random testing just elites? I'd hate to bring the sport into disrepute purely for not checking!
It's the sought of thing that would never get decided in advance unfortunately, but in the unlikely event of a randomly selected runner not being able to produce and having to get away for transport I'd hope that BOF would compensate for travel arrangements, no matter who the runner. I'm sure all runners no matter whether they care for whether they are running WOC or not would not want to fail by refusing the test so would hang around.
Interesting question though. I don't often take pills for anything but I'd never check for banned substances if I did. Is the random testing just elites? I'd hate to bring the sport into disrepute purely for not checking!
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FatBoy - addict
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I have never heard of the selection being made from non elite courses but at the lower end of the elite field awareness should be raised so that BOF don't get a positive test inadvertently! They selected on the basis of start positions this weekend in a seeeded race and didn't select from the top end (10th, 11th, 12th from day before)- so they are obviously not too worried about the top end of the elite field!
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Toni - light green
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Toni wrote: They selected on the basis of start positions this weekend in a seeeded race
So much for "random" testing...
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distracted - addict
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