One of the industry’s largest endurance race sponsors says it won’t accept banned athletes at its events.
As the spotlight shines brighter on doping in professional sports, more event organizers and brand sponsors — at all levels — are warning athletes that they won’t accept the practice at their races.
This week, as part of the opening of its elite registration for the Endurance Challenge Championship held on December 3 in California, The North Face officially released a clean-sport policy to ensure fair play across all of the Endurance Challenge Series (ECS) events in North America.
“The North Face ECS is committed to clean sport and does not condone the use of performance enhancing drugs or banned substances at any level of competition,” officials said. “The North Face believes all athletes competing in any The North Face event and sport in general should educate themselves and abide by the anti-doping rules and banned substances established by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).”
The North Face went on to say that athletes who have been banned from competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) or any national sports federation are prohibited from competing at any of its ECS event while the ban is in effect.
“Once the ban has successfully been served and officially lifted, the athlete may participate at any ECS event but is forever ineligible to receive prize money, awards, podium recognition or overall age group competitive rankings at any distance, including the 50-mile elite field.”
The remaining North America 2016 race schedule includes:
- September 17-18 – Kettle Moraine State Park, Eagle, WI
- September 24-25 – Park City Mountain Resort, Park City, UT
- December 3-4 – Marin Headlands, San Francisco, CA
Photos courtesy The North Face
