Dear Distance Fan,
The Trailer’s OTC Elite Week got some of the jam taken out of its donut on Monday when longtime road-racing stalwart Christian Hesch admitted to the New York Times, Competitor, Runner’s World, and his grandmother’s dog Fluffy that he’d taken EPO.
Ahem. Fifty-four times.
In the running world, there have been all kinds of reactions: vilification, suspicion, denunciation, and more than anything, questions.
We here in The Trailer thought, hell, we can do something about that.
On Friday afternoon, Trailer co-founder Josh Muxen, himself a former Nike Farm Team member and competitor against Hesch, will interview The Man with the Syringe. He’ll ask a few questions, and a few from other elites that have had prize money taken away by someone under the influence.
But that’s where you come in.
We want your questions. All of them. Use dirty words (we probably will shave them down a little bit, but go ahead and use them anyway). Go uncensored, and get it all out. We’ll select the majority of the things we ask Hesch from you, the reader.
And tell your friends.
But first, the rules:
Anonymity will be respected and required, which is why you have to give yourself the name of a mythological creature, followed by your birth year (i.e. Unicorn86).
(And if you’re going to pick something as boring as a unicorn, you might as well give us a color, because someone else with your birth year is going to use it, too (i.e. MauveUnicorn86).)
Send your questions and your fictious, colored, birth-year-marked animal by Friday, 8:00 A.M. EST, to:
Info@getinthetrailer.com
Your questions and Hesch’s answers will be part of a special Trailer podcast (Episode 7.1), available here and on The iTunes on Monday, October 22.
Don’t play nice; play real. We look forward to hearing from you.
- The Trailer
Sup Brah!
Thinking about using supplements so I can hang ten longer on some gnarly waves and so I can recover from radical thrashings faster! Thoughts?!
Mr. Hesch,
Lying is not always the easiest thing to do. Did it kill your soul to lie to yourself, your family, and your teammates for years about not taking EPO? I mean, that had to put a mental stress on you to know that you are cheating, but to keep telling yourself that “it was alright.”
what the heck is up w/ all caps? grr…
well, sure wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. worst part was when i’d be around a friend who had been vehemently anti-doping all their career and I’d feel even more guilty than normal being with them, having a “good” time….obviously my excuses to myself only went so far before i still struggled to look myself in the mirror. the family part was a bit rough, esp at the end…..tell you what though, it’s only getting easier and easier now, nothing like feeling free of an incredible burden. obviously there’s still a bit of burden, but that will slowly diminish with certain actions to help rectify my wrongs.
CH~
On your Facebook Page, a Friend suggested doing some Races in Mexico for some peSOS. Are you planning on Racing in Mexico or anywhere else where your Potential USADA Ban Would not be Enforced? That would not be Right!
pretty sure that question made the interview, but no, wouldn’t really be very sorry if i did that, right? besides, kinda defeats the purpose of a sanction, right? sure it’d be tempting, but only if i didn’t give a $#it….I know it’ll take a lot of time for people to believe I’m actually pretty damn bummed on myself for doping, but at some point ppl will have to accept that as a fact……
What was the instance that pushed you to start doping? Was getting fast your only INCENTIVE? What are your plans now that you’ve came “clean” ?
1. Why the hell did you take EPO? When you said you took EPO to
prevent injuries i think that is B.S> which it is B.S> what is the
real reason you took and b real we already new you took it.
2. If somebody where to take EPO or any performance enhancing drugs
and you knew about it what would you do or say?
I assume you “knew” it because my performances have varied about 1-2% over the last 10yrs??? then i will admit that you are smarter than me. secondly, when did i “say” that i took epo to prevent injuries? never said anything remotely close to that. I very clearly stated that I used it to come back from an injured period at full speed, rather than put up with the 4-5 weeks of hell that we all have experienced when coming back from being dinged up. in other words, instead of cross training hard and being diligent like i should have, i took the shortcut.
If i knew about someone, i’d speak up, just as others have. I’m glad we don’t have a culture that keeps it a dirty little secret, otherwise who knows how many more times i’d have been tempted to go that route. sure i’d love to say i’d been able to resist it (assuming i never got hurt again…fat chance on that) but obviously my track record was pretty darn crappy on that~
how do you sleep at night knowing that you were taking money from legitimate athletes? dick.
Why were you ADMINISTERING epo *DURING your DRIVE* back from Tijuana? epo ISNT ADDICTIVE LIKE PAINKILLERS OR PROVIDE AN IMMEDIATE HIGH LIKE METH AND YOU DIDNT CONSUME IT ALL BEFORE CROSSING THE BORDER, SO WOULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN EASIER AND SAFER TO WAIT UNTIL YOU GOT HOME BEHIND YOUR BEDROOM CURTAINS? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?
Are you full of shit 100% of the time or 100% of the time. I don’t even believe you took epo. Jump on the epo bandwagon while it is in the popular Press. I Hope the attention you have received makes you feel more noteworthy in your life.
If the vials where full, why were they in a gym bag and not refrigerated? If they were empty, why didn’t you just deny it?
I was a former competitor who ran against Christian and I think it’s one thing to come out and admit to doping but the way he has gone about it and is now looking to gain some attention is absolutely disgraceful. Get a life Christian!!
P.S. You weren’t even that good with EPO at the end of the day.
On a scale of one to ten, how big a doUche bag do you think you are?
WTF were you THinking With the pushup stunt? I have so much extra cheating energy! You Non-doped Dopes can never catch me! I am so awesome even though I am A Liar and a Cheat! Look at me, Look at me, I am such a pussy I have to dope but it gives me so much energy I might even be able to beat these guys If I was an Honest, Respectable athlete.
(Sorry about the caps, it won’t turn off)
((I AM Such a pussy I have to type in all caps!!!))
Christian, did you ever feel guilty being around your competitors knowing that you were doping and had an unfair advantage over them? Didn’t the fact that you were doping take away any of the fun or satisfaction of racing well?
*note: I can’t turn off caps, so my question is meant to be read in a calm, cool-headed manner…..
Here is another one Mr. Hesch. Not so much a question but a statement. I’m not even good, I didn’t dope, and I sitll beat you, therefore what are you.
Christian,
I’m still struggling to put your story together, as it contradicts itself throughout; I didn’t take EPO while competing at the start of the story to explaining what’s it’s like to race while on them later in the story. I commend you for taking the first step in admitting that you took drugs to gain an unfair advantage, but you need to take the full step forward if you truly want to be forgiving for this sin. I’m still uncertain of where I sit in relation to forgiveness, but thanks for your email nonetheless.
Q: You talk about a fair outcome, so how would a life ban sit with you? Would this be a fair outcome given you have only come forward due to someone else finding you out?
Hesch, about your san diego-tj source. did you teach your him to dope or did he teach you? and how many guys do you think you could drag down with tyler hamilton-like stories? i dont mean hard evidence, just stories like “i was running with x and we spoke openly about epo”. hup hup!
Christian,
why should anyone believe you’ve only been taking for the 2 years you said you were using?
How much money did you receive from having your handpicked reporter shop around your story. We know that the NYT would not have paid you directly but you have obviously reaped some financial rewards through the reporter you selected to write your story.
Are you going to pay your prize money that you won fraudulently back? THe Blue mile road mile in Edmonton has requested their prize money back. Have you responded to there request and what was your response.
You do know that EPO doesn’t aid in recovering from injuries, so why use that as your excuse for using? Anyone that has been in the sport long enough knows this so your credibility among the elite athletes whose attention you so crave is going to be even harder to win back when you cannot even be truthful in your “admission.”
You state the RW story was not correct in its ASSERTIONS even though they came from the athletes that supposedly outed you. Can you be specific in what was not accurate in the RW story and why we should believe you accounts rather than those of the athletes who actually turned your ass in.
obviously….VERY obviously. i know i’m not in much of a position to be very snippy here, but since some of you keep adding your own “details” to my story, let me help you a little…..zero dollars for the nyt piece. though, since you obviously know more than i do, perhaps you could send me those “financial rewards,” i’d sure love to see them.
You’re welcome to ask the race yourself, i’m sure they have an email address. I don’t need to go publicize anything I do to right my wrongs, contrary to the apparently psychic folks out there, I don’t need to toot my horn about every little thing.
as mentioned above, never once said ANYTHING about using it to recover from an injury. my email’s not too hard to figure out, if you think something’s bollocks, try asking me yourself. i think the line is “don’t believe everything you read.” very cleary stated that I used epo to be able to come back from an injury able to run 5:00 pace straight away, instead of the usual 4-5 weeks that it takes to get back into race shape.
The RW article: hmm, where to start??? “Hesch told the times he took the drug to recover from a bicycling injury”…..wtf??? wow, reading comprehension much? even i can read the nyt article better than that. “athletes at hesch’s level aren’t subject to OOC testing”…..umm, i was 8sec away (10K) from making the ooc pool (road running) for the 4th quarter of 2012. “alerted nike teammates…in july.” try june, middle of. semantics perhaps, but if you’re portraying yours as the “factual” article, perhaps get dates correct. perhaps i’ll write more manana, time for bed~
One more: Are you still going to call yourself a sub 4 mintue miler?
i have been serving the united states for a couple of years now and have been living overseas (not by choice of course) so forgive me for being behind the loop.
i have many many elite friends and competed under some great coaches, and trained amongst some great teams. every time i trained, or competed; i always dreamed of being faster, and always wished i was.
my first time meeting mr.hesch, was when we raced, and of course he beat me, but one of my good friends beat him. i thought wow hesche was fast. when i congratulated him, he was very rude and arrogant towards me and i thought to myself, why are you so rude you didnt even win and you were’nt the record setting runner who won either.
now it all makes sense, he was bitter because the epo didnt work and he lost.
the point of this blah blah pointless conversation piece is; id give anything to run with honor and train and push myself to the limits of the great ones. why choose any other way? my foot was crushed in an accident and i havent run for months, it kills me every day. i wont lie i always think it would be easier if i could find a way to speed the recovery up, but then how would i be any better than the guy who cheats.
i dont know man, i wish you did not do it!