UTMB Group, the biggest player in major ultra and trail race organization, has announced a substantial enhancement to its anti-doping efforts.
In collaboration with the International Testing Agency (ITA) and independent anti-doping organizations, UTMB will invest at least €100,000 this year to strengthen its anti-doping measures. This initiative includes implementing new anti-doping policies, improving testing procedures, and providing educational programs for athletes and coaches.
New Anti-Doping Policies Aligned with WADA
UTMB is rolling out a comprehensive set of anti-doping regulations for the UTMB World Series. These regulations, developed in partnership with the ITA, are designed to comply with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standards, which govern doping rules in road and track running.
The new policies clarify their application scope, and list prohibited substances, outline testing procedures, and detail the consequences of doping violations. This effort aims to bring greater transparency (something UTMB has been under fire in recent years for lacking) and a consistent regulatory framework to the ultra and trail running community.
Educational Training Programs
UTMB has launched an extensive training program for elite athletes and their staff, including coaches and managers.
The education program will include free webinars and online sessions available to 1,400 athletes. The sessions focus on promoting clean sport practices, understanding the new anti-doping rules, and supporting athletes in maintaining ethical standards.
UTMB CEO Frédéric Lenart emphasized the organization’s commitment, stating, “The commitments we made in 2023 were necessary and welcomed by the trail running community: we’re stepping them up this year.”
Collaboration with ITA for Random Testing
UTMB stated that, in partnership with the ITA, they will conduct around 100 random drug tests throughout the UTMB World Series circuit in 2024.
The ITA, established in 2018, manages anti-doping programs for over 60 international sports federations and major events, including the Olympics. This partnership aims to ensure rigorous and unbiased testing, helping to improve the integrity of ultra-trail competitions.
Corrine Malcolm, a board member of the Pro Trail Runners Association (PTRA), praised the initiative, stating, “The anti-doping testing and framework implemented as in-competition controls as part of the UTMB World Series this year is more than a year in the making. We are incredibly happy to be working with UTMB Group and the ITA to take this first step towards safe and fair sport in trail and ultrarunning.”
Echoing Western States 100’s New Policies
UTMB’s renewed anti-doping efforts reflect the recent changes introduced by Western States 100, which announced a new partnership with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) just a few months ago.
Areas for Improvement
Despite these advancements, there are still areas that need attention.
Renowned coach and ultrarunner Jason Koop pointed out in Ultrarunning Magazine that trail and ultrarunning lack a unified governing body to specify testing protocols. “UTMB states that all athletes are subject to both in-competition and out-of-competition testing, but there is no clarity on who performs those tests, how they are going to find any of the athletes for out-of-competition testing, or if it’s just some vague threat to cover all the bases,” he noted.
Positive Steps Forward
Despite the need for further refinement, these efforts represent a positive step towards a more unified anti-doping system in trail and ultrarunning.
Malcolm highlighted the importance of education, stating, “We recognize that in-competition controls are just one of many steps needed and will continue to work with UTMB Group and the ITA to carry out athlete, team, and race personnel education.”
Koop also stressed the need for athletes, race directors, and coaches to educate themselves using resources like USADA’s Anti-doping 101 and the WADA-Prohibited List and Monitoring Program.
Why Is This A Big Deal?
Ultratrail running is a sport where, frankly, there’s not a lot of money involved, especially compared to more mainstream running, such as track or the marathon, and especially not when compared to the world’s most popular sports, such as soccer or football.
This means that there just isn’t enough funding for out-of-competition drug testing and pretty limited in-competition drug testing.
Take Camille Herron, for example. At the time of this interview, she had won two world titles and was breaking speed records left, right, and center, but she was never tested out of competition.
In the interview, Herron said, “Coming from the marathon, I’m very familiar with what goes on with drug testing and was part of the out-of-competition group testing pool with USADA. So when I made this step-up into ultra trail running I was very shocked because I had won two world titles and I thought I would be put back on [the list] to be tested out of competition. Well, I was never contacted by anybody [from anti-doping], which I thought that was a little bit strange, so I actually ended up contacting USATF(USA Track and Field) and USADA to ask if there was some kind of mistake.”
“To put it bluntly, there is no out-of-competition drug testing in mountain and ultra trail athletes right now.”
Herron also claims that she’s seen firsthand that there is a doping problem in the ultra world.
“I’ve seen athletes in our sport making very drastic jumps in a very short period of time, and everybody gets very excited about them. They’ve got sponsors behind them – there’s a lot of sponsorship funding for athletes that a lot of people are unaware of. So you see these athletes kind of come out of nowhere and make really large jumps in a short period of time, and if they were in an Olympic level event, everybody would be blowing the whistle – something’s going on here. But I think most people in our sport are not aware of this issue,” she said in an interview.
“I’m not naive to all this and what’s going on, and I’m probably the most drug-tested American athlete at the moment, only because I’m breaking world records and winning world titles and winning Comrades, where there is in-competition drug testing. But I’m not being drug tested out of competition, and it’s really shocking!”
And she’s not wrong. A recent study from January 2024 found a high prevalence of both legal and banned substances in ultrarunners’ urine.
The study involved analyzing 412 urine samples and comparing the results with responses from 2931 male and female runners who completed an anonymized, randomized-response questionnaire regarding their drug use.
The findings were interesting:
- 49.8% of urine samples contained at least one substance.
- 16.3% of samples contained one or more prohibited substances.
The most common substances detected included:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): 22.1%
- Acetaminophen: 15.5%
- Opioids: 6.6%
- Diuretics: 4.9%
- Hypnotics: 4.4%
- Glucocorticoids: 2.7%
- Beta-2 agonists: 2.2%
- Cannabinoids: 1.9%
- Stimulants: 1.2%
Interestingly, no samples contained erythropoietin-receptor agonists (EPO) or suspicious levels of testosterone.
Interested in reading the full study? You can find it here.
