A Cautionary Tale

admin   December 15, 2020   Comments Off on A Cautionary Tale

Older members may remember Dale Walker, who was a member of our club in the late 1980s. Dale was a promising junior, but he and older brother Jason left the club in 1990.

Dale joined Phoenix Cycling Club a few years ago, and made a successful return to racing, culminating in victory in the Irish M40 road race championships in September 2019. But he failed a drugs test after the race, and he was recently banned for 4 years. You can read the full Sport Ireland report here.

We can’t comment on this particular case, but it is a timely reminder to all riders taking part in open competition that they need to be aware of the Anti Doping regime. The key principle is one of strict liability – an athlete is liable for what they ingest.

Competitive cyclists need to be very careful. Two areas in particular often cause problems –

  1. Over the counter medicines. For example, cold remedies often contain banned substances. Be careful to check any over the counter medicines, and also ask your doctor to check any medicine they may prescribe for you.
  2. Food supplements. Anti doping bodies estimate that between 10% and 25% of all supplements are contaminated. Often all the ingredients are not listed. Be very careful before taking any supplements.

Cycling Ireland has lots of detailed information about anti doping here, and any competitive cyclists should make themselves familiar with this information.

Take care out there, and don’t be a sad Christmas Elf. (And please share any more cheerful examples of Strava Art!!)

SadElf