World marathon majors statement on elite athletes having tested positive for performance enhancing drugs

The World Marathon Majors Boston, Flora London, BMW Berlin, LaSalle Bank Chicago, and the ING New York City have adopted a policy whereby any elite athlete who has been convicted of a drug violation will have lost the opportunity to run in the individual World Marathon Majors events.

Directors and principals of the five races met on June 14 and 15 in New York City and formally took the position which goes into effect immediately.

Believing a clean sport is essential to the promotion of the World Marathon Majors Series, the events were unanimous in creating their stance.

Collectively, the World Marathon Majors directors said: "We'll do anything we can to deter anybody from cheating. The consequences of cheating have to be so Draconian that there's no incentive to cheat. If someone falls afoul of doping regulations, they will not be invited to our events. We must maintain the integrity of our sport. Equally important, we have athletes who share our concern and our drive for our sport to become even more successful than we are currently."