This year, The Battle of the Paddle stand up paddle race will insitute in-competition doping controls. We applaud the efforts of the BOP to get ahead of the curve and begin the doping discussion. In our opinion, it is naive to believe that if the sport of SUP continues to grow doping will not become an issue.

Being on the forefront, the BOP has also opened a can of worms  as paddle athletes are asking questions about doping and what it takes to combat doping in endurance sports.  Some of the questions we  are hearing are “why don’t other races test?” and “why doesn’t the BOP test more athletes including age groupers?”

In this article, with the help of anti-doping insiders who asked to remain nameless, our aim is to answer some of those questions, describe what a “full blown” anti-doping campaign looks like, explain why in-competition testing is just the tip of the iceberg, highlight the impact that an anti-doping campaign has on the athletes, and explain why the logistics of implementing a doping control program is so difficult.

The real costs of running an anti-doping program.

Implementing an anti-doping campaign for any sport is expensive. For example, each test obtained at the BOP will cost the race promoters approximately $3000. Extrapolating those numbers if the BOP tested 10 athletes it would cost them $30,000.  The $3000 includes the cost of collection, collection officers, equipment, and analysis.

The cost of the tests obtained at the race,  however, is just the beginning. Additional costs such as the staff time spent organizing the anti-doping policy for the BOP and implementing the procedures must be included in the cost to the organizers.

Implementing an anti-doping program is also a liability for the race promoter and the possible costs of litigation must be considered by the race director. It is not uncommon for an athlete with  a positive test result to pursue legal action against the race promoter. Many promoters have an agreement with USADA who handle the legal side of things but utilizing USADA lawyers is not inexpensive.

Although these costs are significant (especially for a small event) the issue is that the costs associated with in-competition testing are a drop in the bucket when compared to the implementation of a full blown anti-doping campaign.

“Only fools get busted at in-competition testing.”

We have been told by athletes in the know and anti-doping insiders that the testing performed at competitions, although an extremely valuable and beneficial deterrent, does not go far enough to prevent doping.

We are told that because of the short half life of many doping products (epo, etc.) it can be extremely difficult to identify drugs in the urine or blood at in-competition testing. Experienced and dedicated dopers know how to outwit these tests. Tyler Hamilton, a disgraced cycling doper, wrote a book called The Secret Race , which describes how he (and Lance Armstrong) used to manage their doping program to avoid detection during in-competition testing.

The biological passport: the next step in doping control

According to anti-doping insiders, the meat of a comprehensive anti-doping campaign lies in the biological passport. Wikipedia defines the biological passport as follows:

“[The biological passport] profiles biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by noting variances from an athlete’s established levels [of blood markers] outside permissible limits, rather than testing for and identifying illegal substances.

While a new drug test must be developed and validated for each new drug, the main advantage of the athlete passport is that it is based on the stability of the physiology of the human being. New drugs are produced at an unprecedented pace today and there is often a lag of several years between the availability of a new drug and the application of an effective detection method. On the contrary, the physiology of the human being remains the same through several generations and all biomarkers developed today in the athlete passport will remain valid for at least several decades.”

Stated another way, drug tests look for drugs. The biological passport looks at changes in the athletes physiology over time. Aberrations in their blood and hormone profile are indicative of doping abuse. USADA has algorithms that identify blood parameter aberrations that are indicative of doping. Athletes with blood parameter aberrations indicative of doping are considered to have tested positive even if drugs are not detected in the urine or blood during in-competition testing.

The biological passport relies on serial, random, out of competition testing, obtained over the course of years to establish a physiological baseline for each athlete. Obtaining these samples is expensive and complicated.

The biological passport it is a logistical nightmare whose costs makes in-competition drug testing look like peanuts.

Administration of a comprehensive drug testing program requires a tremendous commitment from the industry and the athletes. The biological passport requires longitudinal testing throughout out the year based on random out of competition testing.

Each test carries a hard cost of approximately $2000. This fee includes the cost of collection, the logistics of delivering the sample to the lab in 36 hours, travel to the racers location to obtain the sample, and analysis.

If you consider a pool of 30 professional athletes who are tested multiple times each year, the costs add up quickly.

Readers should also keep in mind that there are costs above and beyond the cost of test administration. One of these costs is for personnel to administer the biological passport testing and monitoring program. Personnel are responsible to monitor the whereabouts of the athletes and organize random, out of competition, testing and travel. This is a full time job.

It should be noted that because there are always circumstances outside of the control of the athlete (plane delay, family emergency, etc.) athletes are allowed to miss two out of competition tests with no penalty (three strikes and you’re out rule).

This type of monitoring is not performed because testing administrators want to act like the gestapo or  because they are closet stalkers. Rather, as a general rule, doping controls are not performed randomly. In order to conserve resources, anti-doping personnel monitor athletes to identify  and target athletes who may be doping.

Previously, we mentioned that the administration of an anti-doping program is difficult, expensive, and time consuming,  One of the reasons is precisely because of the “24-hours to change rule” and “three strikes and you’re out” rules.  While most athletes are respectful of the rules and make themselves available for testing, other athletes are less forthcoming. Some athletes are constantly changing their whereabouts which makes it extremely difficult and expensive for regulators to test athletes . In other sports, athletes have exploited these rules to evade regulators.

For example, lets say that regulators fly to Vancouver to test an athlete and after they are already on a plane the athlete changes their whereabouts to Hawaii. As another example, regulators show up for a test and the athlete is simply not available. In both of these cases regulators spent money and did not add to the information about the athlete’s biological passport and the athlete incurs no penalty.

How do the athletes feel about all of this?

If you talk with professional athletes about doping, most applaud the efforts of in competition testing. In fact, many athletes want to be tested just so they do not have any questions about their performance at the races.  When it comes to the biological passport, however, athletes, understandably, are oftentimes somewhat less enthused. Having drug testers show up at workouts or family gatherings can be embarrassing.

Moreover, constantly checking in with program administrators to update their whereabouts can be a significant burden to the athletes as they are not exactly free to come and go as they please. Many athletes become resentful of the process.

Is the sport of SUP ready for a comprehensive anti-doping program?