19th August 2010

Anti-Doping Committee

 

19 August 2010

UK Anti-Doping’s Athlete Committee has met for the first time since its members were announced earlier this year, with athletics leading the way in a number of forward thinking measures

Those in attendance heard from both Chief Executive, Andy Parkinson, and Board member and Chair of the Committee, John Brewer, before discussing their main aims and future targets for anti doping within sport..

The Committee will have the responsibility of working to ensure the wider views of the athlete community are represented, as well as engaging with their colleagues and peers to collect feedback on UK Anti-Doping programmes.

Present at the first meeting were World 200m finalist Emily Freeman, Paralympic swimmer Graham Edmunds, adaptive rower Helene Raynsford and former England rugby union captain Martin Corry, as well as Iain Gowans and Ian Smith of the British Paralympic Association and Professional Cricketers Association respectively.

After receiving a more in-depth overview of UK Anti-Doping, they discussed the aspects with which athletes have most day-to-day contact and offered different insights into how these affect them – and how best to address this.

Following the meeting Freeman said: “I think we were all very enthused by our first meeting. We have all shown a commitment to anti-doping by joining the committee, but it is important that athletes feel they are being listened to as well. By recognising that different athletes require different support, and stressing that the right balance needs to be found, Andy Parkinson proved that UK Anti-Doping is committed to ensuring this happens. I am therefore confident that the Committee will play a significant role in improving understanding between the athletes and the authorities.”

Additionally, UKA were the first National Governing body to have its ground breaking education strategy published on the UK anti-doping website this week. The strategy, which outlines the UKA vision and mission statement for addressing anti doping measures is available on http://www.ukad.org.uk/pages/ngb-education-strategy/