Ohio race bans agent, runners with doping histories

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A small road race in Columbus, Ohio, is joining a handful of races across the country trying to ban athletes with doping histories.

The Columbus 10K says it will no longer accommodate athletes, coaches and agents who have a ''pattern of involvement'' with systematic doping.

The move comes after an Associated Press report that detailed how an unknown runner from Kenya won tens of thousands of dollars competing in U.S. road races too small to test for drugs. The runner, Lilian Mariita, twice had positive doping tests.

Her Kentucky-based agent, who says she wrongly believed her runner was clean, is now under investigation by anti-doping officials. She insists she is blameless.

Races in Indianapolis and Carmel, Indiana, have taken similar steps in the past year.