Three-time BMO Vancouver Marathon winner fails doping test

Mary Akor, a three-time winner of the BMO Vancouver marathon, has failed a doping test. The American has accepted a two-year ban from sport by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Akor, born in Nigeria, won the Vancouver Marathon in 2004, 2008 and 2009 and finished second in 2012. She gained U.S. citizenship in 2004 and represented the United States at the world championships in the marathon in 2005 and 2007.  She now lives in Gardena, Calif.

The 37-year-old is notorious for racing often and running fast times on a very regular basis, hitting the 2008 Olympic Trials standard 11 times during the qualifying period.

The sample was taken at the 2012 Gobernador Marathon in Mexicali, Mexico. She tested positive for clenbuterol and all of her results between the Dec. 6, 2012 race and Nov. 5 when she confessed to taking the drug have been voided. The substance in banned by the International Olympic Committee and is known for it’s fat burning properties, but it’s value as a performance enhancing drug is debated.

The retroactive title-stripping does not include any of Akor’s wins in Vancouver, as they were run before her failed drug test.

She’s also expected to return prize money she won from racing, but race directors often don’t pursue getting money returned because it can costly and difficult.

Recently Akor won the Pittsburgh marathon and she holds a personal best of 2:33:50.