The results of a new study have shed light on the prevalence of drug use among ultra runners, finding that it is higher than self-reported questionnaires suggest. The research, which was headed up by the Ecole Nationale des Sports de Montagne in Chamonix and published this month in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, was designed to test whether or not sampling is more accurate than questionnaires.
For the study, 412 individual urine samples were collected from blind, automated urinals at the start of ultramarathon races. At the same time, 2,931 male and female runners in the same races completed an anonymous questionnaire about their drug use.
