What is the position of the ESAA regarding athletes taking performance enhancing drugs?
The ESAA operate under the rules of UK Athletics and the IAAF, therefore athletes taking part in ESAA competitions are subject to the same regime of random drug testing and sanctions as anyone else in the sport. It is a condition of entry into events that athletes (with the consent of parents/guardians) agree to subject themselves to these rules. Testing is under the control of the independent National testing body and the ESAA have no control over what they do. The ESAA provide facilities at events for drugs testing to take place when asked to do so by the testing body, and many athletes have already been tested at ESAA National Championships. Thankfully, in the many years that testing has been done at ESAA events, only one positive result has been detected. Further investigations discovered that the result was caused by a rare cancer in an athlete which would in fact have proved fatal within months had the drugs test not discovered the anomaly. The ESAA continues to stress their comp
