MOORCROFT SET TO THROW IN TOWEL ON DRUG CASES

David Moorcroft, the chief executive of UK Athletics, has warned that the
sport in Britain may soon not be able to afford to prosecute positive drugs
tests as a result of the costs incurred in this year's high-profile cases
involving Linford Christie and Dougie Walker.

Moorcroft fears that if UK Athletics continues to haemorrhage funds in the
manner it has this year then it will go the way of its predecessor, the
British Athletic Federation, which was forced into administration in 1997
with debts of nearly pounds 2m mainly caused by the legal costs involved in
the Diane Modahl affair.

"Earlier this year we set a ceiling on what we could afford to spend on
doping issues and we've exceeded it already," said Moorcroft. "We are not
insolvent yet but unless we keep a lid on our expenditure we may well reach
that position. We will make it through this year but part of the reason for
that is because we are not investing in things we would like to, such as
development. An option we have in the future is to say we can no longer
afford to deal with these issues and say to the International Amateur
Athletic Federation that, reluctantly, we are unable to do anything.

"But even if we did decide to pass doping cases to the IAAF, we've still to
deal with the current issues which could go on for years. It illustrates
the almost impossible position governing bodies are in when they are
dealing with doping."

British athletics has been hit by a spate of positive drug tests during the
past 12 months. Yet the fact that UK Athletics has cleared Walker, Christie
and Gary Cadogan of deliberately ingesting the anabolic steroid nandrolone
has not saved them from the threat of potentially crippling costs.

The decision by the IAAF to refer all cases to arbitration means UK
Athletics could soon be facing a bill in the region of pounds 500,000 after
the world governing body last week agreed to a "losing-party-pays" system.
Currently, the IAAF pays all costs when a dispute with a national body is
referred to arbitration but in the future the loser is to bear the costs,
often in excess of pounds 150,000 for each case.

"It's probably quite an effective way of protecting their system," said
Moorcroft. "Even if people are innocent they will figure they cannot afford
to run the risk of not winning."

Moorcroft remains convinced that the verdicts clearing Walker, Christie and
Cadogan were correct but he does not believe the IAAF will endorse the
decision to clear them. The arbitration panel, hand picked by the IAAF, is
notorious for its hard-line stance, only once finding in the athlete's favour.

"The IAAF is very concerned about protecting its system," said Moorcroft.
"If UK Athletics' primary concern was to protect the system then we would
have put disciplinary panels in place to ensure they came back with guilty
verdicts.

"That is probably the best way of protecting the system but not necessarily
the right way. In the doping system one of the weaknesses is that somebody
being cleared prejudices the whole structure."

This has been the worst year in the history of British athletics for drug
scandals. In addition to the three who have tested positive for nandrolone,
there are three other cases involving British internationals.

Carl Myerscough, the shot-putter who tested positive for a cocktail of
banned drugs, faced a disciplinary panel yesterday and a decision is
expected early next week; Paul Edwards, also shot-putter, is still
contesting a positive test from 1997; and an unnamed athlete is under the
threat of a two-year ban after testing positive for the anabolic steroid
stanolozol earlier this season.

The fact that UK Athletics still has to hand out a ban to anyone has led to
suggestions in the corridors of power in Monte Carlo that Britain has gone
soft on drugs. It is an accusation rejected by Moorcroft. "In being one of
the relatively few countries who do rigorous out-of-competition testing we
are showing we are serious," he said. "British athletes can be tested
anywhere abroad. There are only nine countries in the IAAF who do
out-of-competition testing so you could say there are another 200 who are
soft on drugs."

Moorcroft will have to defend his record this weekend when more than 300
officials from clubs across Britain will gather in Manchester for the first
ever annual UK Athletics Congress. How he deals with the doping issue over
the next 12 months will determine whether the congress is staged again next
year.