Sage Canaday Reports Cam Hanes to USADA After 58-Year-Old’s 2:39 Eugene Marathon

Bad Science wrote:

What is it with the obsession of an anti-doping crusade? Why can’t you just let people do what they want and be who they are? Who is preventing Cam’s competitors from gearing up? Nobody is stopping them. You have a gaggle of geese at a local lake. One of them decides to eat commercial waterfowl pellets and bread crumbs thrown in the water by local caretakers. The other geese are too scared and continue eating grass. The pellet diet goose soon becomes healthier and stronger than the other geese and outcompetes them in every aspect of goose life. Why should you disparage the one goose for cheating when all the bread crumbs and waterfowl pellets were readily available to the other geese? You are faulting and blaming the wrong party. It’s the masses/group’s fault for refusing to take what is readily available and has been shown to help. The whole case is obvious.

Colorado Bear Hunter wrote:

S. Canaday wrote:

Hey thanks for the support guys, much appreciated!

I've been strict about #cleansport ever since I got out of college and became sponsored and realized that doping was a big issue....not just for my personal "pay day and career" but for the integrity and principles of the sport. Here we are busting our balls running 100-140 miles per week looking for the slightest marginal gains naturally and the dopers come in and get that extra 1-5% easy. I ran against EPO cheats (Christian and Eddy etc.), who stole prize money...many "B-level E. Africans" cleaning up left and right. Then I stated ultra-trail running:

I fought against guys that cut swtichbacks on the trails at UTMB and those that don't carry mandatory gear and/or get illegal outside aid station support when it is against the rules of all these races. EPO cheats in the top 10 at UTMB... and then welcomed back with open arms 2 years later...

Call me crazy, but the whole point of endurance sport is that it's hard. It's a personal physical and mental challenge, but it's also a competitive race where your relative performance effects other people. Yeah, as you get older (I'm 40 now) the recovery time and testosterone levels and Vo2max naturally start to drop. I can't run now like I did when I was 25 or 30. That's part of the demands of the sport, aging, and high mileage training!

And now as a "part-time Influencer-Coach" too, I think the Influencers should be held way more accountable. Many are making more money off the sport than sponsored pros. And it comes down to their relative performances and likeness and image too! They are shaping the future "culture of the sport" and if they are making doping seem like it's not a big deal (and normalizing that "the rules don't apply to me culture") than I'm going to fight it with all my might.

So of course I did "target" Cam Hanes. There is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with a large social media following when you're saying you're taking banned PEDs and you're nearing American Record territory for your Age Group at the Marathon and finishing in the top 20 at Cocodona 250 even (last year he did).

And then what about Boston Qualifiers? Marathon Majors Age Group times? Ultra- lottery qualifications?

The amount of "hate comments" I've gotten just on Instagram from all this is astounding. It actually makes me think ultra-trail running is way more dirty than I initially thought (And at all levels too!).

To make matters worse (And if you keep reporting Cam to USADA that may help create some change and precedent...hopefully), you've got individuals like Jamil Coury of Aravaipa Running still "liking" Cam's latest instagram posts and content. (If you don't know 'Aravaipa Running" is like the UTMB monopoly of US trail running ultras...from the Cocodona 250 to Golden Ticket Race like Black Canyon 100km and the Javelina Jundred). His brother actually has the US Men's Record for 24hrs. I myself like to do their races and have entered the Cocodona 250 lottery (a "lottery" that will favor previous runners like Cam Hanes) price tag is $2200 USD all in FYI. But in the past I've done Black Canyon and Javelina and am looking at Desert Solstice etc.

Finally Cam has dipped his media profiles into associating with the likes of not only Courtney Dauwalter and Rachel Entrekin...but also getting likes from Emma Coburn etc. You can see him seem snug on the starting line and promoted by Aravaipa running media (Mountain Outpost) with other "Influencers" like Andy Glaze and Eli Wehbe (to name a few) saying "he's thankful his body allowed him to be there."

Interestingly (but I guess not surprisingly) is some of the most common "push-back" comments I get from his followers (besides one wishing I "ran off a cliff in my next race") was that I'm a "Nerd and Geek!". Well I didn't really know that was a big insult at this day and age..but guilty as charged! Others like to say I'm a "b!atch" (that's usually family guys with little daughters in their profile pic) and a "tattletale" or a "snitch"...um, like are we still in 5th grade or something?? (or is that where their mind stayed over the decades)? In any case many also appear to be on PEDs and probably see it as a personal attack on their "manlihood" or whatever?

Oh, but Cam's a "big man" still because he's going to try to hunt and kill a Bear this month!! (that's beside the point and not a logical argument to his doping, but imo a relevant trait to his "character" imo). Like even as a vegan I understand hunting (deer and elk) can be sustainable and help feed a family. But c'mon A Bear?! That's just "trophy hunting" imo.

In any case. If you support the anti-doping culture. Report him to USADA (And see my latest Instagram posts for more context). Really, the running community on here at least seems to be mostly grounded and intelligent...and I really appreciate and respect that!! So thank you!!

-Sage

I'm with you until the Bear Hunting crackback. Bear hunting is a legal and productive activity. It is heavily regulated and requires a license. It is essential to maintaining balance in an ecosystem that otherwise would become unbalanced. Bear is edible, and tastes like pork. The hides are often used as rugs. Very few deer and elk hides are used for anything-but are thrown away. I appreciate your Veganism, and that you choose not to consume meat or hunt. However, you should not cast judgement about an activity that you clearly don't understand the benefits of. And also, the overwhelming majority of hunters are not in it to be a "big man." If you know, you know.

g men wrote:

Bad Science wrote:

What is it with the obsession of an anti-doping crusade? Why can’t you just let people do what they want and be who they are? Who is preventing Cam’s competitors from gearing up? Nobody is stopping them. You have a gaggle of geese at a local lake. One of them decides to eat commercial waterfowl pellets and bread crumbs thrown in the water by local caretakers. The other geese are too scared and continue eating grass. The pellet diet goose soon becomes healthier and stronger than the other geese and outcompetes them in every aspect of goose life. Why should you disparage the one goose for cheating when all the bread crumbs and waterfowl pellets were readily available to the other geese? You are faulting and blaming the wrong party. It’s the masses/group’s fault for refusing to take what is readily available and has been shown to help. The whole case is obvious.

and when that goose wants to ride an e-bike in a bike race just let him be.

g men wrote:

Bad Science wrote:

Apples and Oranges. Nobody is saying that Cam should be able to drive a Mustang during a marathon. There’s sensible levels to what we can allow before a category changes. Doping is just ingesting a substance that happens to accelerate performance. It is just an enhanced diet. Nobody would object to performance enhancers like caffeine or vitamins. The only difference I see with PEDs is that they are just more advanced and reliable forms of ingesting unbanned substances. The line between right and wrong when considering ingestible substances is less visible, and is far more arbitrary than the ridiculous e-bike analogy you are attempting to give.

it's just rules of the competition man, just decide the rules are arbitrary and anything goes. enhanced games are a go for your g-affirming man - have all the fun you want there. no one is hiding the rules from him/you.

Bad Science wrote:

g men wrote:

it's just rules of the competition man, just decide the rules are arbitrary and anything goes. enhanced games are a go for your g-affirming man - have all the fun you want there. no one is hiding the rules from him/you.

They are arbitrary rules. Who gets to decide what ingestible substances are allowed and which aren’t? Why don’t we ever question these decisions made by people who control the outcome of the sport? We just accept them like a herd of dumb cows with our heads in the pasture. Why can’t we all just dope and insist on it? It’s not like USADA can or could ban hundreds of thousands of runners. We completely have the power to set our own standards for substances, and yet we submit to a faceless agency whose power we never appointed, voted for, or selected. Just think about that.

Bad Science wrote:

Running UberNerd wrote:

Haha. I've been on LR for a long time. I'm not Sage. I'm not even a particular fan of Sage. I've been critical of him in other contexts in other threads, such as when he's commented on threshold and lactate testing when he's not particularly savvy on the subject. But those are good-faith running-nerd quibbles.

On this issue, I'm aligned with him. Asking whether you'd pass a drug test isn't a trick question. If you can't answer yes without hesitation, you have no place in the sport. And people who kowtow to people like that have no place in the sport either.

What is it with the obsession of an anti-doping crusade? Why can’t you just let people do what they want and be who they are? Who is preventing Cam’s competitors from gearing up? Nobody is stopping them. You have a gaggle of geese at a local lake. One of them decides to eat commercial waterfowl pellets and bread crumbs thrown in the water by local caretakers. The other geese are too scared and continue eating grass. The pellet diet goose soon becomes healthier and stronger than the other geese and outcompetes them in every aspect of goose life. Why should you disparage the one goose for cheating when all the bread crumbs and waterfowl pellets were readily available to the other geese? You are faulting and blaming the wrong party. It’s the masses/group’s fault for refusing to take what is readily available and has been shown to help. The whole case is obvious.