Posted: July 2, 2005

Triathlon: Doping controls set for Sunday’s race in Roth

The Quelle Challenge Roth will conduct post-race drug controls on 16 athletes at Sunday's race, a greater number than in years past as part of an effort to lead the way in the fight against doping in long-course triathlon.

In the wake of Nina Kraft's positive test for EPO at Ironman Hawaii last year, the race went to the German Triathlon Federation, the DTU, to lobby its support for greater anti-doping efforts. Along with Ironman Germany, the Roth race organizers sought support from the federation for out-of-competition testing, a pro license for elites and greater numbers of doping controls at long-course races.

"Doping is the thing that harms our young sport the most," said the race's Felix Walchshöfer. "That is why we went to the DTU, and why we are determined to lead this fight."

On Sunday, eight men and eight women will be tested—the first top three finishers and five more from each gender at random from the first 30 finishers. Last year, the top three were tested along with two more at random from each gender.

And German athletes who finish within the top 10 but are not part of the DTU's new professional license scheme will not be paid prize money, race officials said. On Saturday, the DTU also announced that several athletes participating on Sunday were part of out-of-competition tests conducted across Germany in the last two weeks.

For more information about the Quelle Challenge Roth, visit www.challenge-roth.com.

Quelle Challenge Roth’s sponsors include: Quelle AG, Deutsche Post AG, N-ERGIE, Newline, Nürnberger Nachrichten (Nürnberg Newspapers), Bayrische Versicherungskammer, Erdinger Alkoholfrei, Sparkasse Mittelfranken-Süd, Arndt, Mavic, INKO Energy, County of Roth, City of Roth, City of Hilpoltstein, Coca-Cola, Frankenbrunnen, Zeus Copy, Paladin, Hofmann, Jura Kaelte, Flor & Sohn, Spedition Heinloth, and BIESTMILCH.