DOCUMENTS THAT DAMN UKAD PROBE
OCTOBER 2013: Supplement company boss Darren Foote, who sells a range of products across his ‘Mountain View’ brand, takes delivery of a new batch of ‘Extreme Blend (Blackcurrant)’ from his manufacturer, Cambridge Commodities Ltd. The batch number is 1300320.
APRIL AND MAY 2014: Gareth Warburton, an 800m Team GB runner, and Rhys Williams, a Team GB hurdler, were introduced via their shared agent, Steve Griffin, to Foote, who subsequently supplied them both with multiple types of products, including ‘Extreme Blend (Blackcurrant)’ from batch 1300320.
JUNE 17, 2014: A urine sample is collected out of competition from Warburton. It subsequently tests positive for a banned steroid.
JULY 10, 2014: Gareth Warburton is formally charged with an anti-doping violation.
JULY 11, 2014: An in-competition sample is collected from Williams at a Grand Prix meeting in Glasgow. It subsequently tests positive for a banned steroid.
JULY 22, 2014: Hurdler Rhys Williams is formally charged with an anti-doping violation.
SEPTEMBER 2014: On UKAD’s advice, Foote arranged for the Mountain View supplements being taken by Warburton and Williams to be tested at LGC laboratory. The blackcurrant Extreme Blend sample was found to contain traces of the steroid the athletes had tested positive for.
OCTOBER 2014: Cambridge Commodities send a sample from batch 1300320 to LGC laboratory, asking for ‘compounds specified’, including the steroids to be tested for. The results came back in November, clean. (See: “None were found”).
DECEMBER 3, 2014: Cambridge Commodities send an email to Foote, providing him with information about supplements.
From: CCL Sent: December 3, 2014 11:55 To: Darren Foote Hi Darren, Please find attached the results of the four new blends detailed below. Kind regards CCL
DECEMBER 15, 2014: Tribunal hearing into the case of Warburton and Wiliams, where Foote appears as a witness and said CCL had not responded to his correspondence. (See below)
Cambridge Commodities told The MoS last week that they ‘responded to any request for information and indeed sought to have the results of testing carried out by LGC available to the panel. We are unable to say whether the panel did have regard to any of that testing information at the time of reaching its decision.’
JANUARY 12, 2015: Anti-doping panel verdict finds Warburton and Williams took the steroids via ‘inadvertent ingestion through contamination’ and thus their ‘fault or negligence was not significant’.