Cheating in amateur sports

17 watchers

larkim Jun 2016 2:39pm, 2 Jun 2016 828 posts	0 larkim I've wondered in the past whether there is a decent sized cohort of amateurs (at all levels) that does some form of illegal activity to get their times down. Inadvertent drug use must be quite common, for example when asthma medication was on the banned list without a specific Therapeutic Use Exemption there'd have been plenty of amateurs running using their medication without declaring such to the race director and without the correct paperwork in place in case they got tested. Ditto for use of testosterone cream for some men with low T counts. It would surprise me if the only PED cheats were those right at the top of the game though.
Son of a Pronator Man Jun 2016 2:46pm, 2 Jun 2016 8,169 posts	0 Son of a Pronator Man Clearly, I would never approve of cheating, but at the top level where cheating - and being successful - will make you rich and famous - I can understand why people would do it. But cheating to win in races where the rewards are small is absolutely pathetic
ERM Jun 2016 2:47pm, 2 Jun 2016 288 posts	0 ERM As a keen rugby fan, I find Velociraptor's first contribution to this thread to be incredibly worrying. Either the player has been told this information and believes it to be so, or he was trying (poorly) to pull the wool. Shocking in either way. I watch Colts teams and the lads are in a shape that none of my contemporaries were in 20 years ago. I hope that it's all down to nutrition and a better understanding of sports science, but with comments like the one made to V'rap, who knows? Should my boy want to play rugby into his teenage years it's clear I'm going to have to keep an eye out, and it shouldn't be like that.
Velociraptor Jun 2016 2:47pm, 2 Jun 2016 33,878 posts	0 Velociraptor My ~~strava~~ default is cycling and I don't use it for running. If I use it for hiking (mainly to see where I've been if I got lost) I have to change the setting each time.
mr d Jun 2016 3:00pm, 2 Jun 2016 2,173 posts	0 mr d Some of my checkpoint times are cycling incorrectly logged as runs and changing the logged session back to a run doesn't update the checkpoint split. I am off to turn myself in.
stuart little Jun 2016 3:04pm, 2 Jun 2016 1,125 posts	0 stuart little ERM - the vast majority of current ukad sanctions are for rugby (both codes). The problem is endemic in rugby because it has become all about winning the hit, leading to youngsters being told they're not big enough, and then heading to gyms and getting involved with that supplement culture. Of course, it also shows that rugby is taking the testing of second tier players and youngsters more seriously than most other sports (at a glance, there's one current ban for a footballer for instance).
Nelly Jun 2016 3:10pm, 2 Jun 2016 3,305 posts	0 Nelly I was just about to say something similar stuart... it's certainly not new news that lower level rugby players are using drugs. Just see news.sky.com or bbc.co.uk for recent stories about youngsters at lower levels caught and banned. IMO, the youngster Velo saw is truly stupid if he believes what he told her.
Gymfreak Jun 2016 3:11pm, 2 Jun 2016 9,004 posts	0 Gymfreak I don't use ~~strava~~ I get very annoyed by so many people on it so I just stay away. I do know some people that just at recreational level take PEDs for bike time trialling. I find it really quite pathetic and it has put me off the sport completely. I really don't understand the point, you win a race and you get like £15. It means bugger all to anyone outside the sport, no one cares, so what's the point?! I've never personally come across it myself in running (not saying it doesn't happen of course, just my experiences)
SPR Jun 2016 3:14pm, 2 Jun 2016 21,762 posts	0 SPR SPM - I doubt those at the top money is the main concern, the feeling of winning, being the best can be addictive at any level
Icelandic Trigirl Jun 2016 3:19pm, 2 Jun 2016 2,577 posts	0 Icelandic Trigirl I love winning - I wont deny it! But it cannot be as glorious if you know you sidn't really earn it.