I’ve been watching and reading several documentaries and books about ultra marathoners and trail runners. People who run and hike for days or weeks on end. But it seems like a sport where there would be a large impulse to abuse drugs to enhance performance.
EPO and blood doping to increase endurance. Creatine for endurance. Amphetamines and modafinil for sleep deprivation. opiates for pain. anabolic steroids for strength and muscle repair. Cortisol for muscle recovery. HGH. etc
It seems like a sport ripe for drug abuse, but it also seems like a sport where people really value integrity and not cheating. There really aren’t any cash rewards, and the main motivator is the runners own sense of self satisfaction, so I would assume the incentive to abuse the drugs isn’t there as much as they’d just feel like they cheated and didn’t deserve their victory.
Either way, is there any issue with drug abuse in this sport?
While I’m not an ultramarathoner myself, I do follow the big races like Western States, Leadville, and UTMB, and follow athletes like Jamil Coury and Sage Canaday on social media. I’ve never heard any talk of doping or PEDs, such as you often hear about in road running. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, of course, but among road racers “everybody knows” that all Kenyans dope, and Alberto Salazar uses PEDs for his Nike Oregon Project athletes (that last one might be true – Salazar was just banned for doping). Ultrarunning doesn’t seem to have any such commonly-believed rumors.
I did a search on irunfar.com, a site dedicated to ultras, and found a few articles on PEDs, one of which I’ve linked here. The article mentions anonymous surveys of runners in two 2011 track meets in which 45% admitted to PED use. In a similar 2015 anonymous survey of ultrarunners, only 9% admitted using a WADA-banned drug.
Not all ultras test, but the most prominent ones – Western States, UTMB, Comrades, the various Championships – do.
The TL;DR version is that, yes, it does happen, but it’s not as widespread or prevalent as in other track and field events.
ETA: Reported for forum change.
When I thru hiked the Appalachian Trail I would have a caffeine drink in the early afternoon for a boost during what would tend to be a weary time for me. It did work, and I was hiking from the moment I broke camp till I set camp that evening almost every day. However I found that I was not sleeping well so I stopped that fairly early. I enjoyed a good night sleep better then the boost.
Currently, not much, but some runners do take PEDs and the biggest races test for them. Prize money and sponsorships do exist, and it may drive some to cheat but the feeling is that glory and pride are still the strongest motivators.
The biggest boost from PEDs is likely the ability to recover quicker, train more, and race on a more rigorous schedule.