Cycling SA received notification from the UCI (International Cycling Union) of an adverse analytical finding from a sample provided by Barry Warmback on 18 March 2013 at the Absa Cape Epic.
The analytical report confirmed the presence of the steroid, Stanozolol in his sample. Barry is therefore provisionally suspended with immediate effect from competing in any event. The SAIDS (South African Institute of Drug-free Sport) process will now take its course.
Cycling SA reiterates its zero-tolerance approach to doping in sport and will continue working with the UCI and SAIDS in the promotion of a drug-free sport via its awareness programmes and extensive testing.
SO... It seems I've found myself in a bit of a pickle...
The person in those pics is me... Barry Warmback
I've been following this on and off today, deciding on whether or not posting is a 'smart' move. Those high and mighty people sitting at their computers or on their phones may comment on just how 'smart' I am, or what kind of person I look like I am from my pictures. I'm not going to take an aggressive stance to the negative comments made by people who've never met me or know who or what I'm about, (one that a 'gym bunny' may typically be expected to take). Instead, I'm going to tell my story, and you can judge or slander me from your pedestals from there. I'm automatically painted with the Lance Armstrong/David George brush, but at least you get to ask me questions or swear at me if you see fit.
1st off, let me start by apologising to you, the cycling community. It's been a rough ride of late with the spotlight almost constantly on doping in cycling, and the last thing i ever imagined was that I would ever be responsible for further tarnishing the reputation of a sport that i love just as much as all of you. I'm sorry for dragging the sport down. I did not do so with any intent.
In no way am i about to plead any sort of innocence or try come across as a victim. I've done the crime, so i'll have to do the time, whatever the powers that be determine that to be. This is just to tell my side and what has happened, a bit of a chain of events if you care. It was said there are always 3 sides to a story, here's mine. My truth.
I'm posting a response here 1st. I have not yet responded to the email from the UCI advising me of the adverse analytical findings (i have 7 days in which to respond), nor would i give any datails to the reporter from a KZN newspaper who called my office earlier for the scoop. I will not be wasting any more of the CSA's funding that some of you contribute towards with your license fees, so i'm not going to ask them to test my B sample, its the same pee, from the same cup, that i filled and sealed myself to avoid any tampering and contaminating, so it's going to reveal the same finding.
Right, flame suit ON, here we go...
I didn't take any Bioplus or cold meds or some kind of nasal spray, and I'm not going to try pull the wool over anyones eyes and lie through my teeth and try con people into believing my innocence, not you guys, not the UCI, not CSA and not SAIDS. The Stanazolol found can only be from Winstrol that i have in fact taken, on many occasions. It surprised me to discover that it was Winstrol/Stanazolol they found in my system, being that the last time i took any was at least 6 months ago, so it should have cleared my system by now. I know immeditely you'll think that i took it and hoped it would be out before I get tested as to 'get away with it scott free', but this is not the case. I took that Winstrol long before i had any idea that I'd EVER do a Cape Epic.
I'm a recreational cyclist. I enter the odd race, not as a competitor, but rather as a participant. I fell in love with mountain biking after the 1st ride i ever took in Delta Park. I used it to relax and as a bit of cardio and fat loss for the other sport I enjoy, bodybuilding. I used to be a competitive and enter the odd show, and yes, just as a Specialized Sworks Epic makes you perform better than a Makro Dunlop, steroids made you perform better at bodybuilding. Nobody picks you out of the 10 other guys on stage who look better than you because you're natural. It's a drug sport, everybody knows it and willingly participates or doesn't. I've taken 'Juice' on and off for the past 12 or 13 years.
Some people head to the pub and enjoy a few beers after work, some like to pop past a mate and roll a little spliff to puff on and unwind, I enjoy going to the gym and lifting a couple of weights with my fiance or a mate, and on occasion, like to take steroids to improve on my physique. It's MY choice, and it harms nobody but myself. (I do not smoke or take any drugs, coke, or heroin or meth or otherwise, nor have i touched any form of alcohol in almost 6 years now).
That said, over the past two years, and particularly so in 2012, I've become less interested in gym and a lot more passionate about cycling. I decided after ka**ing off at 3 towers last october, that i'm going to spend less time trying to put on or maintain my size, and a lot more time on the bike, trying to lose size and get smaller and lighter. The last steroid i took was before 3 Towers in October last year, and it wasn't Winstrol, it was Testosterone Propionate. That's what I expected to show up in a test if anything.
A mate of mine that also did 3 towers was doing Epic with his brother in-law, so i asked if they'd mind me training with them because i want to focus on MTB and getting lean and fitter, and maybe just go to gym for a bit of strength and conditioning. I started riding with them then went away in December and stuck to their same program. January came around and my partner's brother in-law pulled out and said he cant do the Epic. My partner called me up and said 'will you be my partner for Epic ?". I told him i'd love to, but it's way outside of anything i'll ever be able to afford, so i can't. He said that i needn't be concerned, the entry is paid for, all i'd need to do is train with him and pay the rider substitution fee. AWESOME...! I recieved and accepted an invite from him and logged all my details in on the rider zone profile page etc.
Who would have thought for 1 second about turning down a free Epic entry based on something they took 3 months ago, that may or may not still be present in their system...? To be honest, i didn't even spare a second thought for what i'd taken over 3 months earlier. I was off the juice (still am) and flat out into mountain biking and didn't care if i went to gym once a month or less.
Imagine my surprise, make the cutoff of Stage 1 of the Epic by half an hour after the toughest day ever on a bike, to be greeted by a guy with a clip board saying I've been randomly selected for UCI dope control.
I KA**ED myself....! Suddenly everything comes back to me, "oh ****, what if something is still in my system from months ago...?", "what was the last stuff i took and when...?".
I was escorted to UCI dope control and went through the whole procedure. That's where i made the mistake of not coming clean and stating that i may be guilty of a rule infringement. I panicked... It's day 1 of the Epic, my partners whole family is there to support, his dad's company paid for our entry, our kit, and my fiance's accomodation for the whole race. Do i say something now and it's all over before it begins, or do i keep quiet and hope that the past is the past and hopefully it's out of my system and life can continue.
I chose the latter, and unfortunately yes, it sucks to be Barry right now.
I DID NOT take Winstrol during my Epic preparation, nor during the Epic. In fact as stated above, i never knew in the middle of last year when i did take PED's that i'd ever be given the opportunity to do a Cape Epic in this lifetime.
If I WAS going to take something to help me perform better at the Epic, believe me, it would have been something that I'd be certain would enhance my performance and endurance enough to actually be worth while spending money on, like EPO. I obviously know where i could've gotten my hands on some. They did test me for EPO incidently.
I was contacted by the president of CSA, Mr William Newman, yesterday at around lunchtime. He told me that he'd like to forward me an email from the UCI regarding an adverse analytical finding of the substance Stanazolol in a random drug test conducted at the 2013 Absa Cape Epic, and that once i receive the mail i'll have 7 days in which to respond. I said no problem, i'll look at it. Recieved the email an hour or so later on my Blackberry, but the attachments were too big for me to open so I'd need to take a look from a computer. Got home from work late, didn't look at the mail, left for a meeting early this morning, but no worries, i have a few days to respond, i'll do so later on. Half way through the meeting my phones are beeping and ringing off the hook about CSA having issued a press release to the public with my name on it and that it's all over the hub already. No warning from Mr Newman so i can tell my family or my partner what's goin on.
I call him and ask how they can just publically release my name without notifying me, or without conducting any investigation, or before I've even responded to the UCI email. He tells me "no that's the protocol". Would it have hurt to explain the protocol to me yesterday when he was just 'popping me an email from the UCI'...?
I've admitted to you all here what i've done, BUT, had i not done anything wrong and did want my B sample analyzed, by the time it came back clean the hub and cycling community would have already drawn the above posted conclusions and tarred n feathered me. Proving any innocence would have been too late. The 'protocol' needs some refinement.
Anyway, as i said, not going to turn this into me being the victim. I will say that I do think I'm about to be made an example of. CSA now gets to use me to show the public that doping will not be tolerated at any level. I accept this, and don't expect not to be punished. SAIDS gets to say how its visibly clamping down and winning the war againsed drugs in sport, and the UCI gets to brag about the renewed control over the sport at all levels in all countries. I do wonder if the focus on the 50 tests conducted on actual local Pro's that have been swept under the rug will now be out of the limelight as a result of my 'bust'.
It cost them 5 or 6 grand to test me at the back of the field, yet Wendell Bole is hosting a NATIONAL XCO and Downhill event at Thaba Trails this weekend, without a sniff of funding or help in the form of manpower from CSA.
Are your membership fees being spent in the right places...?
Though i dont believe i've harmed any1, nor gained any financial enrichment, nor threatened anyones livelihood or chance at any endorsements, I know that I've infringed on the rules, and I am truly sorry again for bringing the sport into disrepute. I also apologise if any1 who finished behind me at the Epic believes i cheated them out of a place. I didn't do so with any malicious intent. I trained damn hard for the Epic and sacrificed the same amount of time away from family and friends to be able to tick the race off my list of MTB accomplishments (as you've mocked me for saying).
I intend to co-operate fully with the authorities and take the punishment like a man.. In a TapOut shirt...
FIRE AWAY...