It's a good start. Blood testing is long overdue at the major marathons of the world, and Chicago, along with four of the other major races, has come out in favor of such testing as soon as possible.

In a press release, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, in conjunction with the Boston, New York, London and Berlin Marathons, issued a declaration on March 5 "aimed at ensuring the integrity of the sport of marathon running through the acceptance of blood testing." The seven-point declaration requests that The U.S. Anti Doping Agency and each of the marathons' respective governing bodies, implement blood testing at all major sanctioned events.

"The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon is pleased to participate with the other marathons in making this declaration," said Carey Pinkowski, executive race director. "With so much discussion on this matter, it is very important we communicate our clear position. Our goal is to preserve the integrity of marathon racing and I believe this is a positive step in that direction."

New York race director Allan Steinfeld, in another press release, stated, "through blood testing we can ensure that the speculation of illegal drugs and techniques being used in marathons stops. With the collaborative effort of the five marathons, and the national and world governing bodies who will hopefully join us, we are confident we can achieve our goal."

The seven-point declaration is as follows:

1. The use of drugs and other prohibited techniques to enhance the performance of athletes in marathon racing is contrary to the whole philosophy of our sport and we disapprove of those who use, encourage, administer or facilitate the use of such drugs or techniques.

2. We note that in marathon running the drugs and techniques that are likely to be of great assistance currently cannot be detected by urine testing and that blood testing has a better prospect of detecting those committing doping offenses. We further note that the 2000 Sydney Olympics also initiated such tests.

3. We believe that in order to ensure the integrity of the sport of marathon running, blood tests, both in and out of competition are required. We make no allegations about whether such drugs and techniques are used or to what extent they are used by athletes in our sport, but for the protection of all runners and the assurance of the public, blood testing is an absolute necessity.

4. We call upon the International Amateur Athletic Federation and our national governing bodies to allow for blood testing at all sanctioned events as soon as possible and to make any necessary changes to their rules by no later than August 31, 2001.

5. We pledge that, subject to national laws, once the rules permitting blood testing have been ratified by IAAF and our national federations we shall work with relevant authorities with a view to ensuring that blood tests are carried out at our marathon events in accordance with those rules.

6. Further we believe that to be fully effective, merely conducting blood testing at events is insufficient and we therefore also call upon the World Anti Doping Agency to conduct out-of-competition blood testing, without notice, throughout the year.

7. We shall cooperate together to encourage other marathons and road races to adopt this declaration in respect of their events.

The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon is Sunday, Oct. 7.

Photos by Julio Mora. The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon (above) is one of five pushing for blood testing to detect drug use among competitors. The field last year, led early in the race by pacer Paul Evans (white singlet, second photo), was only subject to random urine testing, which does not detect all performance-enhancing drugs.