Posted: May 20, 2006

Athletics: Two Oceans Top-Placer Tests Positive

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Riel Hauman

Themba Lamane, fourth-place finisher in this year’s Old Mutual Two Oceans ultramarathon, has been suspended after traces of the prohibited substance Norandrosterone were found in a sample collected from him at the Cape Town ultra on April 15.

Lamane is the second South African distance runner to test positive for Norandrosterone this year. Marathon record holder Gert Thys is also currently under suspension after he was tested at the Seoul International Marathon in March. The announcement of his suspension was made less than a month ago.

Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced in a media release that the SA Institute for Drug Free Sport found the substance in Lamane’s urine sample at the Two Oceans and that he is suspended from all competition under IAAF Rule 32.2(a). Lamane has until next week to notify ASA if he wants to have his “B” sample tested and if he wants to submit to a hearing.

Lamane (29) won the Vaal Marathon earlier this year in 2:17:30 and then improved his personal best in the Two Oceans by almost 6 minutes to win his first gold medal in 3:10:48. He finished 41 seconds behind Comrades champion Sipho Ngomane.

Commenting on the announcement, ASA General Manager Linda Ferns said that the spate of positive tests among South African road runners was “worrying”. She referred to the four runners from the Harmony club, among them Azwindini Lukhwareni, who tested positive last year and said that the Medicine Control Board had to stop the people supplying drugs to athletes.

Ferns said the four Harmony runners all received their drugs from a single pharmacy in Pretoria, and added that she was not aware that there had been any action taken against the pharmacy.

Thys’s case has not been resolved yet, and neither has that of Hezekiel Sepeng, holder of the SA record in the 800m. Sepeng tested positive in February last year.

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