LIMERICK, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – On the 8th of July 1998, a car was stopped by police on the border between France and Belgium. Inside, lay coolers containing an array of performance enhancing drugs. Their destination – Dublin and the start of the 1998 Tour de France (Voet, 2001).

This came as just another blow to a sport already marred by a long, dark history of such incidents and certainly wasn’t the last. You may ask; what has this got to do with climbing? The appropriate response is something along the lines of ‘don’t be so naive’. The history of drugs in climbing goes back many years although, in most cases it hasn’t made the headlines, except in the the arena of World Championship Competiton. But presently, it is an issue far closer to home than most people realise. This isn’t particularly my area of knowledge, but I know it will be of interest to many people, so I’ll try and provide a bit of an overview of a few common ergogenic aids.
Ergogenic aids is the heading under which performance enhancing drugs fall, these are any substances that aid physical or mental performance. They range on a continuum of both safety and ethical/moral correctness from energy drinks to anabolic steroids and gene doping.

Caffine:
Makes the world go round (or in my case give you palpitations and makes you feel like passing out). Caffine is a stimulant that acts on the central nervous system to increase alertness, decrease reaction time and encourage the release of fatty acids as fuel for energy production, thus increasing endurance performance (Tarnoplosky, 1994). It has various effects that may be undesired such as peripheral vasoconstriction and an increase in blood pressure. Caffine is currently removed from the present (2008) WADA list of banned substances but may be subject to change again in the future.

Creatine:
Another common substance often considered by climbers is Creatine Monohydrate. The phosphocreatine system is the main source of ATP (think of ATP as the basic unit of energy) for the first ~6-10 seconds of high intensity exercise. Providing an increased store of creatine phosphate (by ingesting creatine monohydrate) may be a potential mechanism for increasing short, high intensity exercise performance and decreasing recovery time. Studies in accomplished climbers have shown no significant increase in performance whilst using Creatine (Doran & Godfrey, 1999) but further research is warranted to provide a conclusion. A potential adverse side effect for performance associated with this ergogenic aid may be the increase in body mass reported in some studies. Other side effects may include gastrointestinal distress and impaired renal function (Graham & Hatton, 1999). Also, as the production of creatine does not follow the same controls as pharmaceuticals, questions as to its purity and safety, especially in the long term have to be considered (Graham & Hatton, 1999) – More on this in part II.

Sympathomimetics/Beta-2 Agonists:
Sympathomimetics act on the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate increases in heart rate, constrict blood vessels, dilate bronchioles etc. Many of these are available as over the counter cold and flu remedies (e.g. psuedoephedrine). Sympathomimetics have recently, as in the case of caffine, been removed from the WADA banned list. However in the case of beta-2 agonists (e.g. salbutamol) some require a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) while others are banned outright during competiton. Check the list carefully if you use an Inhaler!

Check in for Part II to follow shortly – How all this and more relates to climbing and you!