Posted: September 10, 2005

Triathlon: Roth turns in clean report from post-race doping controls

The German Triathlon Union, or DTU, has reported no positive drug tests from doping controls administered at the Quelle Challenge Roth in July. Out-of-competition testing staged in the two weeks leading up to the race, which doubled as the German long-course championships, also yielded no positive results, according to the DTU.

In Roth, 16 athletes were tested—eight men and eight women. The first three finishers were tested automatically, along with five more from each gender at random from among the top 30 finishers.

The race's Felix Walchshöfer welcomed the news: "I'm glad that the elite pass system worked and that our race, which has such a long history, was once again a clean competition."

The controls in June and July represented the first big test for the long-course elite license program in Germany, which was created late last year in the wake of the Nina Kraft doping scandal. Kraft tested positive for the blood-boosting agent EPO after winning the Ironman World Championships in Kona in October—then admitted the offense and accepted a suspension from her federation.

The Quelle Challenge Roth, along with Ironman Germany, worked to gain greater support from the DTU for out-of-competition testing, a license program for elites and greater numbers of doping controls for long-course athletes. To be eligible for prize money in Roth, German athletes must now be members of the DTU's professional license scheme, which requires athletes to submit to out-of-competition testing.

Reinhard Wilke, vice president of the DTU, said the elitepass program had fulfilled its goal, since now all elites have to count on training controls at any time.

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.