Evan Mcneely is a talented cyclocross racer with a game plan that could change the perception of professional cycling. © Margus Riga
We first met Evan Mcneely last year at the first-ever UCI Race in China. He is a Canadian cyclocross racer that often makes the trip down to compete in races all across New England. His 2013 race resume includes top ten finishes at the UCI races in Ellison Park and Cycle-Smart International. Racing for the Norco Factory Team, he also finished sixth overall in the Canadian National Championships.
He reached out to us recently, not so much to talk about the upcoming season or his past accolades, but to share a simple idea that could have profound effects for preventing accidental ingestion.
He calls the idea Stamped for Sport and believes it could drastically alter the way athletes and spectators view supplements in cycling.
Release from Stamped for Sport:
As controversial headlines continue to question the integrity of athletes in drug-tested sports, current Canadian national mountain bike team member and avid cyclocross racer Evan McNeely has launched a start-up, Stamped for Sport Supplements, to take the stigma out of sports supplements.
An IOC-sponsored study in 2004 out of the WADA-accredited laboratory in Cologne showed that as high as 14.8% of 634 widely recognised nutritional aids contained anabolic agents that were not declared on the label. Contaminates found included dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone, and ephedrine, all members of the WADA prohibited list and talented at producing a positive doping test.
Though a decade has passed since contaminates were proven to present irreparable career damage in sport, the marketplace has remained a minefield. Recent occurrences, such as European 400 meter hurdles champion Rhys Williams’ positive test at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games have become far too common, and merit a second look at accidental ingestion.
Stamped for Sportis an online retail platform of contamination free sports supplements. Only brand name products that have been tested and certified clean, by programs such as the NSF Certified for Sport andInformed-Sport are available for purchase. These agencies purchase products off-the-shelf. They then test and check that the contents of the product match the ingredients listed on the label and, more importantly, ensure no substances on the WADA’s banned list are present in the product.
McNeely’s goal, “is to reduce the number of accidental supplement doping cases by making certified clean products more accessible to athletes participating in drug tested sports.” He stresses the importance of recognizing clean product by exclusively selling nutritional aids that have been tested, down to their specific flavours.
“Things aren’t always what they seem. Athletes need to pay close attention to what they put in their bodies. However, sports supplements don’t need to be scary.”
McNeely hopes that Stamped for Sport’s athlete-friendly accessibility will provide peace of mind in the industry at last.
