Cathal Lombard retires

I am sorry ghost, whereas I understand where you are coming from, in what way has Lombard spoken out against what he did?

Did he make any attempt to come clean so to say and to make a difference to the sport, his actions prior to the ban and after the ban has been one of a person taking care of number 1.

He has called it a day, so as take care of number 1, then so be it

Lombard only came clean because he got caught hook, line and sinker. If he could have done a Baumann et al and claimed that he'd been spiked I'm sure he would have done. But when he ordered the feckin drugs in the post and put his name on the box, he was always asking for trouble.

I was at Alsager and he was awful. How can a guy go from running 24.48 for5 miles to beating one of the best distance runners in Europe, let along world in a championship XC. If Cragg was in that bad a shape, surely he wouldn't have run. Ands is not like Cragg was the only other decent runner in the race!

Good ridance. Lombard has done nothing good for our sport. We're better off without him.

Ghost:

one problem with your comparison of lagat and lombard- lombard admitted taking epo after his positive test and lagat's b was negative...

will you be attending the high school 10km championships in kwacheon today? oh that's right, there is no high school running in korea...

He made the mistake of getting caught.

The rest of you lot's heroes just have better back up teams.

Lombard won the Irish Championships because he basically beat a domestic field that are 29:30 10k runners on average. Cragg is the exception but he is no John Treacy over the mud..picture Eamon Coglan over the mud.

The irony of his win is that the standards he reached pre-EPO were good enough to win an Irish Cross Country Championships.

Now to the arguments about whether he was treated fairly. He did not treat his competitors fairly by cheating. He should have been banned by Leevale athletic club for being a bad influence on the young athletes of Cork and Ireland. He also let down all the stars of that club of years gone by- Donnie Walsh, Dick Hodgins, Marcus O'Sullivan etc. Perhaps he was 'run out of town" so to speak. But if this is a stronger punishment than the 2 year ban he received - great. He wasn't going to do anything in Rottherdam anyway!

Perspective on Irish Nats wrote:

Lombard won the Irish Championships because he basically beat a domestic field that are 29:30 10k runners on average.

Since when do average race times of the other competitors matter? The point is, he beat runners that were always way out of his league and he was already caught once. Do the math.

club runner 147 wrote:

you risk losing your point by making such ascerbic (sic) remarks at a knowledgeble, (sic) clever, (if too apologist) poster.

It's your choice to overestimate, I've never been impressed.

Other than Cragg, name the other runners (and their times)he defeated in the Irish Championships that were always way out of his league pre-EPO?

a pox on all your houses get out of the glasshouse

You lot should reserve some of your bile for the rule makers namely the IAAF. Provided Lombard is clean now he is operating within the rules governing our sport.I dont condone what he did 4/5 years ago, which was truly a blight on our sport but he has obviously worked hard to come back to an elite level and I for one wont join the dagger throwers. Life is tough enough. It was wrong to come back, win the nationals and then retire 2 weeks later. He should have kept going as he obviously loves running. Too much off the cuff vindictivness.

ghost wrote:

Lagat only got 'off' because the procedures at the Lab. in Malabray (France) had not been followed to the letter.

Pure, 100%, unadulterated BULLSHIT. You're either horribly ignorant of the facts in that case, or you're deliberately distorting them to suit your purposes. Either way, you suck.

Get a clue: Use the Search feature on this site and search a bit. You'll find postings from Hans Heid, the scientific expert who testified on Lagat's behalf. Learn.

It's strange that you'd show such sympathy for a confessed user yet go out of your way to smear a guy who was acquitted (i.e., found innocent) based on the evidence.

Wonder why that is?

As others have noted, if there'd been any justice, Lombard would have been banned for life, and we'd have forgotten about him long ago. The wasted effort he put into his comeback is itself just one small step toward real justice.

Paudgie Poo wrote:

Too much off the cuff vindictivness.

I completely disagree. In an interview after his race against Lombard, Cragg said something like, "I don't know if he's clean now, but . . .."

Is punishment and shame enough to change a person's character? We can't possibly know. But Cragg shouldn't have been put in the positions of wondering whether the confessed cheater he's racing is still cheating. Lombard should have been banished from the sport forever.

I say that not out of a sense of vindictiveness but rather in the name of fairness to those with the integrity to run clean.

ghost wrote:

a pox on all your houses get out of the glasshouse

Several posters have made coherent arguments against your position and this is all you are able to come up with in terms of a rebuttal?

Kind of says something about the soundness and merits of your position on this issue.

I doubt whether this is the same ghost - no doubt the real one will give his reply in due course.

ok who cares Lombard is retiring or if he was on the juice at Interclubs. Lets ask the real important questions here:

-Does Vinny Mulvey approve of Lombards retirement ?

-Would Vinny Mulvey shake Lombards hand now he is out of the sport?

-What breakfast cereal does Vinny have in the morning?

-With what hand does Vinny Mulvey scratch himself when his balls itch?

Let us not loose ourselfs in endless conversations & useless arguments & focus on what really matters, ie. what Vinny Mulvey thinks & does.

-Does Vinny Mulvey approve of Lombards retirement ?

Since he called for it we'll have to assume that he approves.

-Would Vinny Mulvey shake Lombards hand now he is out of the sport?

Now that would just be pointlessly mean.

-What breakfast cereal does Vinny have in the morning?

Titanium ball bearings in crankcase grease.

-With what hand does Vinny Mulvey scratch himself when his balls itch?

Your mom's.

I never wrote "a pox on all your houses get out of the glasshouse"

Someone else posted under my name. Another reason, why registration should take place here.

Ghost in Korea (www.gifle.go.kr) apply now, good conditions

Answers wrote:

-Does Vinny Mulvey approve of Lombards retirement ?

Since he called for it we'll have to assume that he approves.

Did he really? I never saw mention of him calling for Lombard's retirement. I would agree with him if he had but I didn't see it. Is there an interview somewhere that he did that?

Nothing's stopping you from registering that name for yourself, genius.