A sample of the Dope Testing Kit which was used on five random athletes by the BVIOC as they gain compliancy with RADO, WADA and UNESCO. Photo: RADO

Ephraim Penn (pictured at a previous BVIOC event) is President of the BVIOC and sits on the Executive Board of RADO described the random testing as a big step forward for Sports in the BVI. Photo: Charlie Jackson/VINO

The Territory is one of the newest members of RADO, having been approved back in February 2012 at the Organisation’s AGM held in St Kitts under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth, Empowerment and Sports in collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

In order to complete the process and become compliant under the rules of membership, the BVIOC had to randomly test five athletes out of competition and as BVIOC President, Mr. Ephraim Penn explained, “We have a Local Doping Commission which follows the model set up by the Cayman Islands." The five members are Dr. Clausen, Doping Control Officer, Ephraim Penn, Chair and member of the RADO Executive, Cleave Farrington, Steve Augustine, Jamal Smith, who is the Legal Representative and Mark Chapman.

“To fulfill the mandate we informed all member Federations and established a pool of 20, we asked each where they would be at a certain time and the tests were all carried out smoothly,” stated Penn.

Technically, all member Federations have signed up as members of the BVIOC to the programme and whilst the five random tests are a minimum, Penn hopes to extend the programme to cover Sporting Events or in-competition testing. “If a guy comes here and runs a fast time we want to make sure its legitimate,” stated Penn.

“It covers all Sports,” explained Penn and also athletes who may be based abroad. “Once we know where they will be they can be tested too, it is in our best interests to make sure everything is as it should be.”

Athletes may be tested at any time, both in and out of competition, as well as during times indicated on their Whereabouts Information routine schedules which should be posted on the Anti-Doping Administration and Management Systems (ADAMS). ADAMS is a web-based database management tool for data entry, storage, information sharing and reporting, designed to assist sporting federations and countries around the world in their anti-doping operations.

All athletes on the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) will be obliged to register their whereabouts using ADAMS, on a quarterly basis, that is, January to March, April to June, July to September and finally, October to December. Athletes must enter one specific, 60-minute slot each day, for a specified location between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., where they will be available for testing. They must remain at that location for the time period specified.

If a Doping Control Officer (DCO) arrives to make a test in this one hour period, and the athlete is not present, then a Missed Test will be registered and the athlete may be in violation. With repeated Missed Tests, an athlete may become ineligible to compete in international competitions, like the Olympic Games.

“Additionally they can be banned by the BVIOC from participation,” commented Penn. “And the only recourse the athlete has for a failed test or failure to test is a long, lengthy and expensive appeals process with the Court of Arbitration which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.”

The next big step after these random tests is going to be Education and Penn assured that there will be as much of that out there as possible. “It’s not that we are trying to catch anyone out” said Penn “however we are trying to teach our athletes what is expected as International standards.”

It is a huge step forward and an important one for the development of Sports in the Territory. “It’s a major achievement,” said Penn and ,“we are going to now start building on this. The Education process will be for all sports.”

The five Athletes chosen for the tests based on urine samples will have to wait a couple of weeks for the results as they are sent off to Barbados via secure FedEx services.

The Caribbean RADO has a responsibility to "provide education on the use of drugs and doping methods in sport", as well as to promote and coordinate the fight against doping in sport among the countries of the Caribbean. Its core vision is to value and foster doping-free sport in the Caribbean. The organization provides various resources, seminars and workshops to athletes, coaches, sport-related administrative personnel and the public on matters relating to the anti-doping process and the sporting arena. It also encourages the active participation of National Sports Associations who have the serious responsibility of ensuring that their members have all the information that is necessary to be fully knowledgeable and aware of the anti-doping program as well as to support and comply with it.