Mr Ephraim Penn, President of the BVI Olympic Committee (BVIOC), recently returned to the Territory from a Results Management Workshop held in Georgetown, Guyana on September 7, 2014. Photo: Provided

Mr. Onye Ikwuakor, Director of Legal Affairs at the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) conducted the workshop for the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO) in Georgetown, Guyana on September 7, 2014.

This was done to solidify the results management process across the 15 Caribbean RADO member Territories to ensure that the provisions of the revised World Anti-Doping Code are enforced as of January 1, 2015 and applied fairly to all athletes and their entourage.

The Caribbean RADO also held its annual board meeting on September 6, 2014 highlighting its anti-doping education and testing programme and received reports on compliance from member countries.

The Virgin Islands was represented at the meeting by Mr. Ephraim Penn and was hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport of Guyana with the support of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Addressing the opening ceremony was Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport who thanked the organizers for showcasing Guyana’s commitment to anti-doping. Chaired by Dr. Adrian Lorde of Barbados, 14 member countries were represented at the board meeting.

The Caribbean RADO continues to ensure that all athletes who compete nationally, regionally and internationally are clean and free of prohibited substances and methods. A significant boost has been provided through a WADA Testing Grant for out-of-competition purposes which is available to all member countries.

To date for 2014, nearly 100 urine tests have been collected from athletes from a range of sport disciplines, all with negative results.