On November 7th, 2021 the second IAU Medical Committee meeting took place. It was another virtual meeting hold by the committee.
It was very productive meeting and number of matters were discussed. The summary from the discussion is provided below.
- Setting basic organisational terms on how the committee wants to work together and how often in a year it wants to meet on a regular basis
- Anti-Doping: the committee was updated and discussed the current Anti-Doping regulations with a focus on ultrarunning, the embedding within IAU and member federations as well as coworking with World Athletics (WA) and its Integrity Unit (AIU), WADA and National Anti-Doping Associations in conjunction with IAU members. It was seen as necessary to strengthen the efforts undertaken by IAU and its member federations to guarantee fair and sustainable championships as well as Label-Races. The Medical Committee in conjunction with the IAU Council will work on strengthening those efforts by working closely with WA and AIU as well as IAU member federations to reach a clear understanding and following of procedures and their worldwide implementation.
- The IAU Medical Committee will introduce regular online workshops for athletes and coaches of the ultramarathon community, including questions & answers. By the end of this year IAU will announce the first workshop, to be held end of February/beginning of March on "training for ultramarathon races" and a second workshop will be held later that year on "nutrition in ultrarunning".
- The Medical Committee will produce a guideline for organizing Ultra Races given the pandemic situation globally. The focus as of now will be on what to consider during and post pandemic.
In addition, we would like to share with you that Dr. Matthias Reick was elected, and he accepted to be the Chair of the Medical Committee.
On behalf of IAU Medical Committee
Jacek Bedkowski
IAU Director of Communication