Rita Jeptoo Tests Positive, An Exclusive to RunBlogRun, by Larry Eder

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Rita Jeptoo, 2014 Boston Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net

New York, New York . Friday, October 31, 2014

Updated on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

In an exclusive to RunBlogRun, trusted sources have confirmed that, at the end of September 2014, Rita Jeptoo tested positive in her A sample test for a banned substance in an out of competition testing. The out of competition testing procedure was done in Kenya. The testing was done by a urine sample.

The complete story is published below.

Rita Jeptoo, photo by PhotoRun.net

New York, New York . Friday, October 31, 2014

Following this test, Rita Jeptoo won the 2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, defending her title.

In such situations, and per WADA rules, a B sample of the athlete must be tested, and the representative of said athlete, or athlete may be in attendance. The B sample has not been tested at this time.

This situation creates a conundrum for the World Marathon Majors, who are holding their awards ceremony for the 2013-2014 male and female winners of the WMM series this weekend.

What makes this situation even more challenging is the current issue that has evolved with Liliya Shobukhova, a former two-time World Marathon Majors Series winner, who is facing unresolved issues regarding athlete biological passport tests.

RunBlogRun reached out to Federico Rosa, agent and manager for Rita Jeptoo, but he was unavailable for comment.

Updated on November 4, 2014:

I have updated my first piece on Rita Jeptoo with the following note, that I thought I had saved. I called Federico Rosa at 1.30 AM Eastern time US. At the time, he could not legally comment on my story as he had not seen official note from the IAAF to Athletics Kenya. I had noted that he was unavailable to comment. Federico was not trying to avoid speaking to me. #ritajeptoo

Carey Pinkowski, Race Director of the 2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon was unavailable for comment.

Updated on November 4, 2014. Again, Carey was not avoiding me, it was 1.30 AM in the morning and I just did not have his cell number. I spoke to him on Saturday and am updating that note.

At this time, representatives of the World Marathon Majors were unavailable for comment.

Updated on November 4, 2014. I did not speak to WMM representatives until Saturday morning. Their statement on Friday morning was their official comments.

RunBlogRun will update on the details of this situation as they develop.

Rita Jeptoo, photo by PhotoRun.net

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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