Say it ain't so Alberto...

Hi All,

Earlier this afternoon the word came down that Alberto Contador has apparently tested positive for a banned substance during this summer's Tour de France. The substance in question, clenbuterol, is a bronchodilator specifically banned by the UCI's anti-doping rules. Contador has claimed this positive test is due to "food poisoning" and will supposedly give more details at a Thursday press conference. Later tonight, the UCI sent out a release that claimed the following...

“The UCI confirmed today that Spanish rider Alberto Contador returned an adverse analytical finding for clenbuterol following the analysis of urine sample taken during an in competition test on 21st July 2010 on the second rest day of the Tour de France. This result was reported by the WADA accredited laboratory in Cologne to UCI and WADA simultaneously.

“The concentration found by the laboratory was estimated at 50 picograms (or 0,000 000 000 05 grams per ml) which is 400 time less than what the antidoping laboratories accredited by WADA must be able to detect.”

“In view of this very small concentration and in consultation with WADA, the UCI immediately had the proper results management proceedings conducted including the analysis of B sample that confirmed the first result. The rider, who had already put an end to his cycling season before the result was known, was nevertheless formally and provisionally suspended as is prescribed by the World Anti-Doping Code.

“This case required further scientific investigation before any conclusion could be drawn. The UCI continues working with the scientific support of WADA to analyse all the elements that are relevant to the case. This further investigation may take some more time.

“In order to protect the integrity of the proceedings and in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code, the UCI will refrain from making any further comments until the management of this adverse analytical finding has been completed.

There have been several other athletes implicated on clenbuterol doping including Team RadioShack sprinter Li Fuyu earlier this season, a Polish canoeist at the 2008 Olympics, and a world champion badminton player earlier this year. Jessica Hardy, an American swimmer who tested positive for clenbuterol at the 2008 Olympic trials, has also claimed that she had ingested it thru a sabotaged supplement. However, she ended up wasting a lot of time with lawsuits and ended up serving a doping suspension.

According to various sources, clenbuterol is often used illegally by athletes and body builders to help build slender muscle and reduce body fat. According to today's reports, Contador so far has only had his 'A' sample analyzed and we'll likely have to wait until the 'B' sample is tested.

Now before I pile on as another blogger automatically convicting Contador  - right now all we have a positive test for a drug that others athletes have used to cheat with, we have a dubious excuse, and it appears we are walking down that same Floyd Landis path. Here's hoping we don't get too far down that path...or can this minute amount of drug be enough to get him off the hook? I'll reserve judgement until we know more...this one could last a while. I could see this case going all the way to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) or I could see it being dismissed within a couple of weeks by the UCI.

From 2006, here's a  humourous look back on some of the best doping infraction excuses around...

So far, Lance Armstrong has been quiet on the subject on Twitter...but that can't last, can it?

Canadian ITU 2010 Year in Review...Womens Edition...

Hi All,

I have ignored most of the 2010 ITU Season this year on Bikey, highlighting a couple breakthrough performances (Barb Riveros early, Paula Findlay late) that appeared to inject some new blood into the same old faces who seem to be on the podium race after race. For the women, it was Emma Snowsill, Emma Moffatt, Lisa Norden, and Nicola Spirig who battled it out all year for the overall title.

A quick recap of the year  - Emma Moffatt repeated as World Champion in 2010. Unfortunately, she didn't have a banner year, winning a grand total of ZERO events in 2010. In 2009, she won 4 events and was the dominant female, but this year she had two 2nd place finishes and 2 3rd place finishes to outpoint the rest of the women. Canada's Paula Findlay was the only multiple winner in the World Championship Series, but the fact that she only competed in 3 out of the 7 events in 2010 left her far behind in the overall Series, finishing in 5th place on the season.

A couple questions: Am I the only one who thinks that the World title should go to someone to actually wins a race? And does the average fan really miss the "All or Nothing" one day, one race World Champion? I get that it's important to convince the best athletes to race all around the globe, but isn't there a better way?

The Canadian content from 2010 - our women had a very mixed season. Our pre-season troika of Kirsten Sweetland, Kathy Tremblay, and Lauren Groves had an abysmal year, with Tremblay finishing the highest overall in 48th place on the ITU World Rankings. Of course, the performance of Paula Findlay in July and August leaves our female team with a lot of question marks leading into 2011.

Tremblay (13th overall in 2009) never real got on track in 2010, had a nasty crash in Madrid, and never really had a solid race all season long. The 28 year-old has always been a consistent racer, but will need to have a bounceback season in 2011 or her Olympic goals might be a longshot.

Sweetland suffered thru more injuries and sickness early on this season, and never really got on a roll like she has in the past. She got a flat tire in the WCS event in Hamburg, competed while sick in London, and then regrouped in August to finish 2nd overall at the Canadian Championships (less than a minute behind Findlay) before going to Budapest and finishing 2nd overall at the Under-23 World Championship race. With two career World Cup wins and still only being 21 years of age, Sweetland still has unlimited potential. Can she stay healthy for an entire season? And can she team up with Findlay to give Canada a one-two punch to take on the world?

Lauren Groves broke her collarbone in the offseason, but unfortunately it never healed, so she needed success in June and lost her entire season. She was 12th in the 2009 rankings, and has proven she can have big results in big races. Can she bounce back after losing an entire season? Let's hope so...

Canada's shining star for 2010 was Paula Findlay, who started off this season racing against second tier competition before shocking the world by winnning her first two World Championship Series races in London and Kitzbuhel  before finishing a gutsy 5th overall in Budapest after having to play catch up the whole day...she'll enter 2011 as one of the favorites in every event she enters. And with her taking the winter semester off of university to prepare for her 2011 season, the 21 year-old will be looking to take her replicate her 2010 successes.

Findlay also took home some hardware in Budapest as the winner of the "Fastest Runner" award from the ITU. This season, the ITU gave an extra award (plus $5000 in cash) to the male and female who consistently had the best swim, bike, or run splits for the season. Findlay's blistering run splits won her the 2010 award, while Jan Frodeno won for the men.

A quick note on the other winners...the bike award went to Calgary's Lisa Mensink (who competes for the Netherlands). However, despite being rated as the top biker, her best overall finish was a 17th place finish. Lance was right - it's not about the bike. The top swimmer award went to Laura Bennett, who had another great season to finish the year as the 10th place overall female as a 35 year old! Nice work Laura...

So let's call this year a solid B+ overall, after an A+ by Findlay and a bunch of C's and D's from the rest of the girls...

Men's recap coming soon...

One more remarkable run by a Canadian male...

Hi All,

Lost in the hoopla over Coolsaet, Gillis, and the other Canadian males at the Toronto marathon today was an incredible run by another Canadian legend. Ed Whitlock, the 79-year old runner who has an incredible resume of age-group records, added another one today. One year after running 1:37:34 at the Toronto Half Marathon, he found some more speed this year in running an incredible 1:34:27!! Another world record for Whitlock, who turns 80 in March!!

A great article on Whitlock, who trains every day by running around a graveyard near his house, can be found here...

Canadian Marathoners...in the Olympics?????

Hi All,

It was way back on Wednesday of this week when Athletics Canada released their Olympics standards for the 2012 Olympics. For men, the standard was set at 2:11:29, while for women, the standard is 2:29:55. At first glance, since no Canadian man or women had achieved those standards in many years, it might appear to be Athletics Canada essentially shutting out their endurance athletes. However, what this doesn't take into account is the great progression and development of several Canadian males.

People might know of Simon Bairu, the Regina native who beat Ryan Hall with a stellar 62:47 half marathon this January. He is currently training for his marathon debut (New York City in November) where the expectations are high for  him to perhaps challenge the 35-year old Canadian marathon record of 2:10:09 set by the legendary Jerome Drayton. But three other Canadian males, Eric Gillis, Reid Coolsaet and Dylan Wykes, have also been improving. They are all middle-distance runners who have been slowly increasing up to marathon distances, and have been improving over the last couple of years. 

Wykes made his marathon debut in 2008, running 2:15:16 in Rotterdam. Coolsaet made the jump in 2009, running 2:17:09 at the Ottawa marathon. Willis waited until January of 2010, when he ran a remarkable debut of 2:13:56 at the Houston marathon. 

This week included a great article on Guelph teammates Gillis and Coolsaet, where it says they have been running upwards of 240 km per week getting ready for this marathon. Another article in the Toronto Star talks about the Brooks Marathon House project, a 5 year $1.5 million commitment by Brooks to create the next great Canadian marathoner, which so far has produced some decent results but no breakthrough performances that would justify the expense. The project has just one healthy athlete making an attempt this weekend in Toronto, with 26-year old Matt Loiselle making his marathon debut.

Anyhow, Coolsaet and Gillis were running the Toronto Marathon earlier today, and Wykes was running the half-marathon at the same event. And all of them had great days, lead by an incredible run by Reid Coolsaet who set a PB by over 5 minutes (!!!) in running 2:11:23, beating the very difficult Canadian Olympic standard by just 6 seconds! An absolutely stellar run. His training mate Eric Gillis also had a huge PB, finishing in 2:12:08, leaving himself just 40 seconds short of the Olympic standard. Both men with huge breakthrough races.

Wykes had a great half, finishing 3rd overall in 1:05:11. His next marathon will undoubtedly be an attempt at a huge marathon PB and perhaps another Olympic qualifier. 

Congrats too to Matt Loiselle, running an impressive 2:19:03 as well to finish as the 3rd Canadian. 

The future looks great for the men. Now we need some ladies!! Good job by all...

Where were you 10 years ago?

Despite the best efforts of previous Ironman World Champions like Sylviane Puntous, Lori Bowden, Heather Fuhr, and Peter Reid, September 17, 2000, was the day when triathlon really put its stamp on Canada. Congrats again Simon!