Tyler Hamilton has already surrendered his Olympic gold medal from 2004; the former top pro has now seen another of his results scratched from the books, with the news that the organisers of the Mount Washington Auto Road will drop his 2006 record from the event.
The decision comes two and a half weeks after the 40 year old said that he doped for much of his career. The admission was a complete reversal of his statements following his positive test for blood doping in 2004. He also said that Lance Armstrong and other former US Postal Service team-mates used banned substances and blood transfusions.
Those claims are being investigated at present as part of a wider investigation into doping on the USPS team and others.
The record in question comes from the race two years after his positive test. He covered the course in 52 minutes 21 seconds, taking the record for men in the 35 to 39 category. The mark will now revert to Mike Engleman, who clocked up 53 minutes 53 seconds nine years earlier.
Four time winner Hamilton previously held overall records on two occasions, 1997 and 1999. The latter mark was beaten three years after that by Tom Danielson. He scaled the climb in 49 minute 24 seconds.
The organisers have also re-examined the women’s races and decided to jettison the records set by Canadian rider Genevieve Jeanson. She too admitted to doping for much of her career. However her admission came four years ago, and so it appears that Hamilton’s case is the catalyst for the change in her situation.
“These races are held independent of any other governing body, and we have never conducted drug testing for them,” said race director Mary Power, according to AP. “However, following the revelation by Tyler, as well as Genevieve's earlier confirmation that she used banned drugs from the age of 16 until her retirement 10 years later, we are respecting the rulings of national and international cycling federations, and we are no longer recognizing any of their times here as records.”
In 1999, Jeanson set the record for age 19 and under with a time of one hour 1 minute 57 seconds. The new holder is Vermont rider Anneke Reed, who as a sixteen year old took one hour 48 minutes 32 seconds.
Her 2002 mark for the women’s open race was 54 minutes 2 seconds; the new record goes to Frenchwoman Jeanie Longo, who two years earlier recorded a time of 58 minutes 14 seconds.
The 20-34 women’s record she set the same year now reverts to the one hour 3 minutes 50 seconds by Kimberly Bruckner in 1999.