The Valencia Marathon reacts to the CELAD scandal and breaks with the Anti-Doping Agency

The credibility of the State Anti-Doping Agency (CELAD) is at a minimum after the president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes decided to send to the Prosecutor's Office an extensive report prepared by the Ministry of Education and Sports on the bad praxis and possible misuse of public funds in the agency directed by José Luis Terreros. One of the first entities to speak out, after learning of the facts, has been the organization of the Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathon, which has decided “that it will not carry out new anti-doping test contracts with CELAD until the investigations for alleged irregularities are clarified in a reliable manner. undertaken by the international anti-doping organization WADA, at the administrative level, and by the State Attorney General's Office, at the judicial level,” according to a note issued this Thursday morning.

Thus, the organization of one of the marathons that has grown the most in recent years in Spain – it has gone from receiving about 3,000 runners to more than 33,000 participants in just a decade – explains that, “as long as the situation in the right direction”, the contracting of anti-doping controls in the Half Marathon and the Valencia Marathon will be entrusted directly to teams from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) “to guarantee impartiality, rigor and zero tolerance towards cheaters”.

“Although the cases that have appeared in the media are not related to the controls of the Half or the Valencia Marathon, there is a decrease in confidence in the highest Spanish anti-doping body, in which until now we had trusted, and in the companies empowered by it. to carry out the tests,” explains Juan Manuel Botella, general director of the Marathon. And he adds, in reference to the statements of Rodríguez Uribes in EL PAÍS: “If the president of the CSD himself has publicly declared that there are criminal signs and has transferred them to the Prosecutor's Office, the situation is very serious, so we cannot stand by. crossed or pretend that nothing happens.”

“Like all great races, Valencia has suffered in the past from the deception of some runners, and for that reason, because it has cost us money and has broken our hope of crowning the true champions, our commitment to identify and remove the liars of sport is and will continue to be unbreakable,” emphasizes Botella. Valencia was the first World Athletics Championships organization in history to make a voluntary contribution of $50,000 for surprise controls in 2018, and like other internationally prestigious events, it does not hire athletes who have been firmly sanctioned for serious misconduct. against doping, regardless of whether they have already served their sanction. Annually, the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon allocate more than 35,000 euros directly to anti-doping tests and space conditioning for their correct execution.

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