Performance enhancing drugs

[chippy]

After the last few shoots. Can anyone recommend a good one?

 

[Wonko the Sane]

I have heard that beta blockers are a marginal to useless drug for shotguns.  Not surprising at all there, but of course would be very useful in pistol and rifle comps and why they are banned.  I'd guess the random testing for shotgun events is more pro forma than anything else tho there is a possibility that some forms of stimulants might provide some assist to a few shooters.  Personally, I don't need to be any more jacked up than normal for shotguns, tho I did explore that avenue one time many years ago and made the easy decision to not bother again.

YMMV of course

have fun

 

[Nimbusgb]

1/2 a viagra a day is a good way to stop you peeing on your shoes.

 

[RobertBeard]

Any Olympic athlete under British Shooting gets regularly tested and after competition.  The tester walks you off the line and stays with you until the test is completed!

 

[Stan]

Realistically, it's massively unlikely UKAD are likely to waste their time and resources turning up to a local shoot but in principle they could and would have the right to test you as their remit covers anyone partaking in sport in the UK. As i say though, i would be amazed if they would waste their time. GB Selection shoots are a different matter and i would be surprised if they don't. The ISSF are signed up to WADA - the World Anti Doping Association - more info here (http://www.issf-sports.org/theissf/antidoping.ashx) and (specifically topical to this thread) that link includes the sentence, "The ISSF reminds all national level and international-level shooters and shooter support personnel that the use beta blockers is prohibited and forbidden in shooting sport both In-Competition and Out-of-Competition."

If you want information on Anti-Doping in sport visit the UK Anti Doping website @ www.ukad.org.uk

If you have to take a medication for a medical problem, you might be able to apply for a "Therapuetic Use Exemption" certificate or "TUE" (pronounced T-U-E). See the UKAD advice on TUE's here: http://www.ukad.org.uk/about-TUE Ideally though you would ask your doctor for an alternative medication that does the same thing but isn't on the banned list. The banned list also has variations between "in-competition" and "out-of-competition" banned substances so that's worth checking too... It might be perfectly fine for you to use a cold remedy that includes a banned substance (eg-pseudoephedrine) "out-of-competition" but it might be banned "in-competition".

I coach in another Olympic sport and as the OP states, Anti Doping is right at the forefront of a lot of people's minds at the moment. It's amazing how little the athletes and particularly the parent's of young athletes know about anti-doping and making sure that they aren't deliberately or accidentally doing something or putting something into their food or drink that could end up with a positive test and the ramifications that has.

 

[CharlesP]

That's a most informative post, Stan, thank you. As I've said, my OP was tongue-in-cheek, but this thread has led to my appreciating the whole "banned substances" subject rather better. It's an absolute minefield, and I can now far better understand the difficulties facing athletes (and of course athlete's families).

Fortunately my performance is way below the point where I should fret about this sort of thing, and as a consequence I shall do absolutely zip all about it, but my awareness has now been raised to the point of abandoning my previously closed-minded and bigoted stance of "cheating bar stewards" to a more enlightened view.