Gate River Run 2011

You put on a great race and are great to all top runners.Keep up the good work and gate river great name.

this doesn't have anything to do with the fact that somebody came out of nowhere to demolish the field at your race, go on to run ridiculous times, then conveniently disappear off the race of the earth- does it??????????????? hmmm, wonder if last years winner will show up again.

The USATF tests in random rotation at their major races - and never gives reasons - this year our number is up ! We always happily comply with what USATF dictates - as we want to keep them happy and our 15k championship here in Jacksonville.

Richard Fannin wrote:

The USATF tests in random rotation at their major races - and never gives reasons - this year our number is up ! We always happily comply with what USATF dictates - as we want to keep them happy and our 15k championship here in Jacksonville.

I don't mean this snarkily at all, but how come major road races like yours don't test every year? Is it prohibitively expensive?

So I guess Mo Trafeh wont be showing up in 2011.

Richard, I like what you've done with you race and everyone i've spoke with who's run your race has nothing but good things to say about it.

that said, why did you F#@$ this one up so badly? If you really wanted to help the sport, you would have kept this quiet as a mouse, and just surprised everyone at the finish line. hell, don't even let the usada people out of a locked room until the race has started, so that nobody can "drop out" with some inexplicable "injury".

sir, that's the only way to truly catch people, is when they are completely unaware. otherwise, its a peice of cake to beat the system. shoot, i'm an old hack and i could probably get some masters records if i wanted to. you know which races are testing, just stop using a couple of weeks prior. same thing that anyone who could have been using will do at your race now.

I hope nobody at your races is/has/will use, but lets face it, its a reality in todays world and you just blew it and gave them all the info they need. again, i like you and what you've done for the sport but you hurt our chances of catching dopers today.

That was crazy last year when he took off at the gun the way he did. Glad to here he (and possibly others) will have to sober up for the green monster this year!

QFE right here. QFE.

Richard Fannin shut yo mouth!!!!

This information should never have been released.

Oh and Fannin is not the race director. Doug Alred is.

To add to that, not only would it better to keep it quiet in order to catch the cheaters, it would also be fairer on those runners that have to drop out for legitimate reasons. If they didn't know there would be testing and they drop out, then no-one can accuse them of dodging the testing.

Maybe that was the point of announcing now, to make elites look bad for not running?

This year, NY 1/2M is the following weekend, as is world XC champs. It may be tough to get elites this year to the 15k because of the proximity. I don't know if NY will test (I hope they do!), but if they don't, then that's added pressure on elites to run the 15k just to preserve their credibility. Since the 15k won't do appearance $ the way NY will, they may be trying everything they can to get people to come.

NYRR explicitly announces testing at every elite event and lifetime bans to violators. Gate River should be applauded for taking a similar stance and other races should announce the same whether they do it or not.

its well known that nyrr tests at ALL their races (at least the ones with significant money). its a well known "secret" that gate doesn't test on its own, and usada "typically" doesn't choose gate to test at. as what happened at twin cities this year with the pre-announced "extra" testing at twin cities, it shouldn't be announced if you really want to catch ppl. you have to trick them. sorry if that seems shady but guess what, so is doping.

The USADA has made testing a lot easier and more affordable - and we likely will be testing more often than not in years forward.

Regarding testing and dopers - whether runners know in advance or not - dopers will eventually get busted. Some races announce in advance and some do not.

One method keeps dopers from ever showing up - the other may catch them by surprise ... both have their pros and cons.

It certainly was not our intent to do anything to damage our race, the sport - or anything else.

I had a few runners tell me that they were upset that we did not test last year - and that they might not return unless we did test this year - my main intent was to saisfy the runners that we will be providing an obvious major deterrent to dopers.

We - at Gate River Run - love the sport - and think that 99% of elite runners are good folks and honorable.

Although the "sneak attack" has very obvious merits - we would just rather that dopers don't even fly into our town.

Like I said earlier - "sneak attack" or not - these dopers will eventually have their day of reckoning.

I don't mind constructive criticism - and I am all for what is best. We may just utilize the "sneak attack" from now on ...

Is the team competition happening again this year? And if so is it only for the elite training groups or can sub-elite clubs (~47:00-50:00) compete as well?

Yes - elite competition is on !!

Open to any 3 man (or woman) team !

If Hellebuyck's system holds true (and probably known by the educated drug cheats), drug cheats could stop taking by Wednesday or Thursday (depending on the race day), and not have detectable drugs in their system by the race weekend. I'd rather USADA invest more into using the sneak attack, test mid-week, and have a greater likelihood of catching the drug cheats.

Here's how he says he was busted:

"Then one morning, all of a sudden, just before breakfast, the guy from USADA was knocking on the door. He said he had missed me when he came by the week before. I had been away from the center working out at Balboa Park, and he wanted to test me now. He had his credentials and everything. He was from the UCLA lab, I think. He took my urine sample. I think I had put down a unit of EPO two days before. I was probably just inside the 48 hours. I didn't really think about it. Probably since 2001 when I started EPO, I must have passed 10 or more tests. I wasn't too worried. I was just focused on my workout that day."

Very good - and valid - points