Organisers back banned runner

Organisers of the Tauranga International Marathon have backed their decision to let banned runner Brendon Keenan compete in their non-sanctioned event – and would welcome him back next year.

Event promoter Aaron Carter knew the Rotorua policeman was in the second year of a four-year suspension from ‘all sport’ after admitting to importing the drug Erythropoietin – more commonly known as EPO – which can be used to increase red blood cell production and is illegal under sport anti-doping rules.

But because his ban only relates to ‘organised sport under the guise of a national body’, Keenan was free to enter last Saturday’s race in Tauranga – run by Carter’s company Total Sport – as it’s not an officially sanctioned event by Athletics New Zealand.

Keenan recorded a time of 2:58:19 to finish ninth overall, and win the male 40-44 years section.

Athletics NZ and Drug Free Sport New Zealand have called on event organisers to adopt a firm stance, to ensure the integrity of all races.

However, Carter has a different perspective.

‘‘I totally appreciate their position, that’s their job, their underlying values and principles of business would put them in that position,’’ he said. ‘‘But we don’t adopt that view. Our stance is pretty clear – we’re a company that’s all about participation. And one of our core values is being inclusive and trying to create events that have a broad appeal to a wide variety of people.

‘‘We don’t have an association with Athletics New Zealand for any of our events.’’

Carter said there wasn’t a blanket open-entry rule, but that it came down to a case-by-case basis. In Keenan’s case, Carter was satisfied due diligence had been done prior to the race, having spoken to people who knew him, and read the full background about his situation.

‘‘I believe that it was just an unfortunate series of events,’’ Carter said of what led to Keenan’s ban. ‘‘I believe that he probably made a naive decision, and I think he would agree with that.

‘‘What’s important to me is that he made that decision based on trying to deal with a health issue, and ended up buying a product that he shouldn’t have. And then I think [it was creditable] the way in which he dealt with that when it was found, and the fact that he told them to destroy it.

‘‘Had he actually purchased products, taken them to improve his performance, that would change things for us.

‘‘He’s been really dragged through the wringer, I actually just think it’s a bit sad.

‘‘He made a mistake, he’s paid for it over and over and over again, it’s affected his life in a number of ways. And I believe him.’’

Yesterday, Carter spoke for the first time to Keenan, who he said would be welcome to future events, provided they were still detached from Athletics New Zealand.

While the Tauranga race has the word ‘International’ in its name, Carter said it was more of an ‘‘aspirational’’ title, as they look to target more overseas entrants in future.

With about 1200 competitors across the various distances on offer, Carter noted it was an event far smaller than the likes of the Queenstown or Auckland marathons, and at this point he couldn’t see too much benefit to Athletics New Zealand for it to be partnered with them.