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Okpekpe organisers restate commitment to drug free race

By Editor
14 April 2016   |   1:09 am
Organisers of the IAAF bronze label Okpekpe international 10km road race say they will ensure all the anti-doping rules are followed to the letter when the fourth edition holds next month in Okpekpe near Auchi in Edo State.
Okpekpe 10km Road Race

Okpekpe 10km Road Race

Organisers of the IAAF bronze label Okpekpe international 10km road race say they will ensure all the anti-doping rules are followed to the letter when the fourth edition holds next month in Okpekpe near Auchi in Edo State.

Spokesman for the race, Dare Esan, revealed that provision has been made for a full doping control for the event, which has become one of the most anticipated in the calendar of IAAF Label road races.

“All tests shall be conducted in accordance with the IAAF anti-doping regulations. There will be mandatory and requested tests. The mandatory tests are those that the organisers must conduct at its expense and includes the minimum four that must be done as a bronze label event, that is two men and two women, as a mixed gender race and of course those that must be conducted in the event of a world record or area record is broken,” Esan said.

Esan explained that the requested tests would be at the “athlete’s expense if he or she breaks a national record,” adding that the IAAF has specifically ordered that the doping control must be held in a neat environment, while samples collected will be sent to IAAF accredited laboratories outside Nigeria.

“The laboratory in South Africa is temporarily closed and the IAAF have advised we send the samples to any of the three in Europe and the Middle East,” said Esan, who insisted that the organisers of the only IAAF labelled 10km road race in Africa in 2016 have to subscribe to the efforts to rid athletics of doping after the scandal involving Russia since last year.

Meanwhile, with over 3,000 runners expected to participate in the race, the organisers say they are now putting finishing touches to the technical and administrative organisation of the event.

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