Athletes hoping to contend for the World Marathon Majors annual $500,000 prize, or prize money in any of the six participating marathons, will be subject to increased out-of-competition testing for performance-enhancing drugs beginning this summer.

The testing, a partnership of the Majors (collectively, the Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City Marathons) and the International Association of Athletics Federations, is the largest anti-doping effort to date by a private athletic organization.

WMM General Counsel Nick Bitel said that the Majors’ race directors were determined to eradicate drug cheating in their events and that the testing pool initiative “is a major step forward in achieving our aim.”

The testing pool will consist of about 150 runners eligible for prize money at the Majors. The increased testing will supplement rather than replace testing already conducted by the IAAF and WMM.

Those in the pool include all athletes who earned WMM points from 2012 to 2015; men who broke 2:11 and women who ran under 2:27:00 in any marathon from 2012 to 2014 and are entered in a 2015 Major; world-class half marathoners who are planning their marathon debut at a 2015 Major; and "any other athlete deemed fit for inclusion," the Majors said in announcing the new testing pool.

The Majors' decision to expand its testing is, in part, a response to the cases of Liliya Shobukhova and Rita Jeptoo. Russia's Shobukhova, who won London once and Chicago three times, twice won the WMM's $500,000 overall women's prize but was later found to have anomalies in her biological passport. Kenya's Jeptoo, the 2013 and 2014 Boston and Chicago winner, was on the verge of being awarded a $500,000 series check last fall when it was revealed she had tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO.

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