Yeah, that this is somehow turning into Sage vs Cam is absurd. Why people are even defending this guy is beyond me. Saw a ton of people on reddit and elsewhere defending and justifying cheating for non-elites.
As a long time trail and ultrarunner who has participated in races all over the US, most of the big ultras around, including Aravaipa, it is depressing what this sport is turning into that so many in this space are buddying up to and fine with a known cheater. For gods sakes Jamil even played a role in Xavier being DQ'd from Hard Rock for taking a sip of his girlfriends water, but a doper showing up to his races is fine?
I already have to assume some randoms I am competing against in races at my age are probably on TRT or something, but for folks to normalize this and stand behind it is mind boggling. Personally will not be supporting any organizations that do not come out and make it clear cheating of any kind for any age, elite or not elite, will not be tolerated.
I might be wrong but I think some of the people associating with this movement and supporting Cam and co. are just hoping "a rising tide lifts all boats" and they can get noticed themselves. The world is crazy and budding influencers that are trying to transition away from the 9 to 5 will do desperate things to get to that easy $$$$ like the big names out there....it is that simple. People will forgo their principles for easy money most of the time. Being cynical but that may explain the non-committal bloggers, podcasters and RDs.
The elite trail running & running community should fully support Sage Canaday if they stand for “clean Sport” Cam Hanes has openly acknowledged using banned substances like BPC-157, drawing Liver King vibes.
Many top athletes previously appeared on his Keep Hammering Collective podcast, including Courtney Dauwalter, Rachel Entrekin, Andy Glaze, Conner Mantz, and others. Rory hasni coaching his son with no public comment.
Continuing association with Cam risks damaging personal brands and the sport’s credibility. Clear, principled backing of clean athletes like Sage is essential.
Interesting point about Rachel. A few weeks ago she had the world in her palm. Not judging her at all, but based on your statement, but it's an interesting data point.
Yes, it seems like this non-runner knows a lot of runners.
I respect Sage 100% but to be real, the problem for Sage is that Cam has volumes of followers that can drown Sage's supporters out. Putin playbook, flood the info space zones with all sorts of news/gaslighting/content, confuse people, and rely on short attention spans from gen pop. Will people still remember this issue by Independence Day? They are hoping the RDs are so busy trying to get their races going that they will forget about Hanes.
The author who wrote that hit piece is a very conservative Trumper. No wonder she wrote that piece and defends Cam.
Doing God's work, it all makes sense. I know some will say "who cares about her?" but she's got a strong marketing background and knows how to work all angles of social media.
The guy who filmed Xavier taking a sip of water outside aid saw Jamil right after and Jamil told him he had to show Dale. He was instrumental in blowing the whole thing out of proportion (IMO it was blown out of proportion). I am sure Jamil, being the media diva he is saw it as a great opportunity to create some drama for his channels. Dale had no choice but to do something as the whole thing was blowing up on social media during the race. Literally a sip of water outside aid, but hey banned substances are totally fine as long as you are a popular social media influencer.
In 2018 Tony Russ filmed Xavier around 47ish miles in told Jamil. Jamil narked to Dale and Tom Stockton. Xavier was questioned at mile 71, then they waited till 92 miles to DQ him.
Xavier had an hour lead. Ironic that Mr. CLEAN living Raw Milk Jeff Browning ended up the winner
Funny enough Browning has always seemed to me the most suspect of ultrarunners in terms of likely PED users. Always a solid 100 miler but leveled up big time in his late 40s (western states podium) while looking way more cut and running like 6 100s a year. Credited it all to a high fat/ high meat diet. Unsurprisingly also an anti-vax weirdo like Hanes.
What's clear is that Dylan Bowman, Jamil Coury, Western States, et al. are no friends to clean sport and should be treated accordingly. Go into their races with followers and rules do not apply.
Actually, it seems like Western States has put pressure on Jamil before to do more drug testing. Honestly, I think WSER has known that these races have a doping issue.
WSER and the trail running community as a whole allowing Golden Ticket races to go untested, organizers like Aravaipa Running are saving a few thousand dollars today while deferring a massive financial and cultural debt for tomorrow. When a sport's culture normalizes cheating because no one is looking, fixing that corruption down the road requires shifting from cheap race-day tests to highly complex, year-round "whereabouts" testing pools that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
WSER urgently needs to reconsider partnering with untested qualifying events; if a doped runner steals a Golden Ticket at an Aravaipa race, the integrity of the WSER line-up is instantly compromised. Western States will ultimately bear the brunt of the financial fallout, facing skyrocketing legal fees, expensive post-race arbitrations, and a devastating loss of premium corporate sponsorship when mainstream brands refuse to fund an unvetted, scandal-ridden sport.
This was an interesting article written a year ago which has come full circle. A quote from it:
"A weak deterrent (people breaking anti-doping policies and facing no punishment), in this case, made the behavior feel more acceptable.
This ideas applies surprisingly well to doping. If we set up systems that look like deterrents, but are poorly enforced or inconsistently applied, they may actually legitimize cheating.
They send the message: We know it happens, we don’t really care."
I have no respect for Jamil. Dude only cares about how much he can make from people at his race. I suggest you email western states.
What's clear is that Dylan Bowman, Jamil Coury, Western States, et al. are no friends to clean sport and should be treated accordingly. Go into their races with followers and rules do not apply.
Actually, it seems like Western States has put pressure on Jamil before to do more drug testing. Honestly, I think WSER has known that these races have a doping issue.
WSER and the trail running community as a whole allowing Golden Ticket races to go untested, organizers like Aravaipa Running are saving a few thousand dollars today while deferring a massive financial and cultural debt for tomorrow. When a sport's culture normalizes cheating because no one is looking, fixing that corruption down the road requires shifting from cheap race-day tests to highly complex, year-round "whereabouts" testing pools that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
WSER urgently needs to reconsider partnering with untested qualifying events; if a doped runner steals a Golden Ticket at an Aravaipa race, the integrity of the WSER line-up is instantly compromised. Western States will ultimately bear the brunt of the financial fallout, facing skyrocketing legal fees, expensive post-race arbitrations, and a devastating loss of premium corporate sponsorship when mainstream brands refuse to fund an unvetted, scandal-ridden sport.
This was an interesting article written a year ago which has come full circle. A quote from it:
"A weak deterrent (people breaking anti-doping policies and facing no punishment), in this case, made the behavior feel more acceptable.
This ideas applies surprisingly well to doping. If we set up systems that look like deterrents, but are poorly enforced or inconsistently applied, they may actually legitimize cheating.
They send the message: We know it happens, we don’t really care."
I have no respect for Jamil. Dude only cares about how much he can make from people at his race. I suggest you email western states.
I will say after the Lance cheating scandal in cycling, it never had the public's eye like it did in the '80s and late '90s. The covenant was broken. I remember up to that point general pop was excited about cycling, etc. Bike shops were everywhere and growing up many of my running friends wanted to get into cycling. But once Lance got popped...people lost interest.
Ultrarunning is popular in Columbus, lots of good races in Ohio (all over the state), etc. etc. But all the goodwill from Coco 250, Rachel's win, could evaporate if the reputation gets tarnished. It blew up my Facebook even from casual runners new to the sport....it was a moment in time.
I saw it in Irish Dance in 2022--popular, family-friendly sport tarnished by cheating scandal (texts, judges playing favorites) and competitions are dropping in entries because the sport's rep is damaged. Some schools and comps have to close/shut down because families are wising up to the cheating.
Yes, it seems like this non-runner knows a lot of runners.
I respect Sage 100% but to be real, the problem for Sage is that Cam has volumes of followers that can drown Sage's supporters out. Putin playbook, flood the info space zones with all sorts of news/gaslighting/content, confuse people, and rely on short attention spans from gen pop. Will people still remember this issue by Independence Day? They are hoping the RDs are so busy trying to get their races going that they will forget about Hanes.
I just hope that the running world has less parallels to the rest of our life experience. It's all very disappointing.