Masters star Kevin Castille - whom many LRCers thought was on drugs - is banned for testing positive for a steroid

I told y'all the Brits were dirty! Did y'all believe me? NO! All covered up by Lord Coe Coe as I suspected. Should have let the Brazillians keep those rotten Malvina penguin islands!

Sapel wrote:

So the next obvious ones are the West Coast and Northeast guys using TRT and talking about it on the circuit?

What are you talking about? Can you expand?

Hardloper wrote:

shootpost wrote:

The true crime here is he got caught.

Taking a common anabolic steroid that is super easy to detect and only testing at nationals? And you still got caught?!?!?

Come on man a few hours of googling could have prevented that.

Yeah for how little he gets tested it's kind of surprising

I always wonder how much anyone gets tested. Is this the only time this guy has been? Or, is there evidence that he passed a test in the past? I mean, if BTC members aren't (some never have been according to a recent thread) what are the odds of this guy stumbling across a test? Even Christian Coleman can likely count on his hands the number of tests he's passed. There certainly were tests at USATF and WC, so he's passed 3 or 4 that I'm aware of.

If you're good at dodging them, can you go years without taking a test OOC? A guy like this wouldn't even have to do that. He'd just show up to races with nothing detectable, you'd think.

Or, does it happen all the time? I don't really know, but have to think most of you over-estimate the frequency even of top pros being tested given the surprise over a well-known pro claiming she never has been. Also, the test in question was strangely long ago. Kind of like Alberto Contador's issue a year plus after the test. What's the deal there? Does it really take a year to get the results back?

He was long suspected in running such unlikely times. His interrupted career gave some possibility that he was just realizing unrealized potential like a lot of masters runners do who had a late start or injuries when they were younger. He, like all busted athletes, should have to pay it all back.

Smoove wrote:

He cost me money twice, once at Gate River Run and once Houston Half. He is also the only American guy in my age group (as of race day) whom I have raced but not beaten.

I had long heard rumors about him, including from a guy he coached. I have consistently said on these boards that rumors shouldn't be the basis for besmirching an athlete's reputation.

We are now beyond rumors, and all of his records should be expunged and he should be heckled at every opportunity.

You were one of the first people I thought of after reading this ‘news’. Agree with all of the above.

That is an unfair and blanket accusation. I may be a nobody by letsrun standards (never broke 14 minutes for 5K, don't own a $1.3 M dollar house, nor did I graduate from an Ivy League school--although my dad and granddad did), however have competed reasonably okay at the national and international level. Am I competing against and beating dozens of drug cheats?

I'm sure they are out there, but certainly not at the level of every other runner or four out of the top five at a given championship as you seem to imply.

KC was so far out ahead, making the rest look like JV runners, and had a string there a couple years ago where he was racing a lot with seemingly no ill effect and that did raise some questions. Nevertheless, you can't go pointing fingers at anyone who does have a standout effort or season, nor across the whole spectrum of masters running. "Geez I'm 50 now (and probably 20 lb overweight) and can no longer break 20 minutes for 5K, therefore anyone faster is on drugs."

Testing on the road racing scene is really limited, and most often it is guys at the very top who get tested. I’ve seen people tested at Gasparilla, but that was a woman in the top 3 or 4.

While Castille was more of an open athlete in terms of times than a masters athlete, and should have been more likely to be tested, the very top masters runners are almost never tested at large road races. I’ve run Gate River Run (USA 15k championships, Gasparilla, Cherry Blossom, Boston, NYC, and Chicago (twice) and been among the top masters each time, but the reality is that I come in with a wave of other people and they aren’t going to pick the 65th finisher at the Chicago Marathon to test.

Sapel wrote:

Runners have been taking deca for years in the USA. I ran against some Kenyans in Tulsa OK back in 2005 or so and one of them came up to me after the race asking me to help him find and purchase some "deca" and I had no clue what it was until I told my brother the story.

Deca can be detected up to 18 months after administration. I guess they were not concerned about being tested.

rojo wrote:

LRC article now up:

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/07/us-masters-star-kevin-castille-banned-four-years-for-steroid-use/https://twitter.com/NHLFlyera/status/1283783788787531779

Here is the feature from the New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/from-drug-dealer-to-long-distance-record-setter-kevin-castilles-redemption

I wonder why he chose to use a steroid with such a long detection time (up to 18 months)? Seems reckless.

shootpost wrote:

TMADDDHASFNE wrote:

I'm not surprised, but this doesn't shatter my confidence that there are some great runners alive now that are not doping.

However, It would be a big shock if they retested an old Ed Whitlock blood sample and found traces of illegal synthetic tree bark formulated by the late Euell Gibbons.

Your confidence is misplaced.

So why do the obvious ones so often get caught? Why has yet another sprinter been suspended today? When an obvious doper gets caught then it should give encouragement that perhaps there are at least some clean runners out there.

I've seen evidence enough that it's certainly fair. Where there's smoke, there's fire. At the national level, there probably are more than a few PED cheats in your age group. Some are intentional, some may not be. I didn't imply 50%+, either. Again, the irrational strawmen the KC defender crowd likes to grab for are no help. It has little to do with who's faster than me, it's about where intention obviously meets opportunity. I'm not naive enough to remain willingly blind and imagine some ironclad code of honor among masters athletes. KC revealed to masters runners, much like Armstrong did to cyclists, that it's something that will let you compete better and give you a feeling of success and you can pretty much get away with it. I finger-pointed at KC for years. And guess what? I WAS RIGHT.

What’s the motivation for him to dope? Is it money? Was he making that much money? If not, then perhaps ego? If it is ego or status then we may have a much bigger problem in master’s running than previously thought. Daily we witness folks obsessing and fawning over Strava rankings and segment records. There is much grandiloquence over age grades. It begs the question: Have some masters runners become so callow as to dope to improve their status among their peers?

casual obsever wrote:

Finally.

Also, more good news after the Stevens ban.

Drug cheats out!

Can Paula possibly be next?

This whole time I mostly thought he was just lying about his age...

Funny result I dug up from last year. Flew in for easy $800 - won by 1:30

https://www.gsrs.com/results/3732

Any estimates on what kind of money they guy earned from his performances over the past 8-10 years? Did he have any endorsements? Sad!

I think the motivation was a combo of all of the things you mentioned. His entire livelihood was tied to running. He was a high school coach until a year or two ago he left that job suddenly and deleted his social media presence. He also had some sponsorships, although I don’t know if there was much cash involved there.

Even if the money isn’t big, for a guy who dropped out of college and had a history of drug arrests, it was a way to bring cash in.

Rtype wrote:

What’s the motivation for him to dope? Is it money? Was he making that much money? If not, then perhaps ego? If it is ego or status then we may have a much bigger problem in master’s running than previously thought. Daily we witness folks obsessing and fawning over Strava rankings and segment records. There is much grandiloquence over age grades. It begs the question: Have some masters runners become so callow as to dope to improve their status among their peers?

I am speculating here but I think a huge portion of his identity is/was wrapped up in trying to put up "young runner" times. He admitted he never had much of a career in his prime due to incarceration, etc., so there was certainly a void he was trying to fill with his master's career. The old adage is "Father Time is undefeated" -- and the doping implies he was trying to literally outrun Father Time.

While I am glad he was caught and hopefully this is the end of his running career, I do somewhat worry about what is going to happen to him now. Again, his identity was so wrapped up in being the fast older guy. Without that, and with such a checkered past, I hope he can find a new identity and new goals to pursue.

Doping at any level is a disgrace and everything should be done to eradicate it from our sport. However, doping doesn't mean this guy is a garbage human being. He did some bad things, sure, but I hope he can steer himself in a positive direction for the rest of his non-running life.

zxcvzcxv wrote:

He was long suspected in running such unlikely times. His interrupted career gave some possibility that he was just realizing unrealized potential like a lot of masters runners do who had a late start or injuries when they were younger. He, like all busted athletes, should have to pay it all back.

You mean like "He kept his 20 year old body on the shelf, while he got into drug dealing and hard living" then pulled it back out in his 40's and dusted it off. A long with everyone else?

Rtype wrote:

What’s the motivation for him to dope? Is it money? Was he making that much money? If not, then perhaps ego? If it is ego or status then we may have a much bigger problem in master’s running than previously thought. Daily we witness folks obsessing and fawning over Strava rankings and segment records. There is much grandiloquence over age grades. It begs the question: Have some masters runners become so callow as to dope to improve their status among their peers?

^^^ THIS! ^^^ Thisthisthis