Julia Mumbi Muraga received a two-year ban from Athletics Kenya on Thursday after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO). The 2:26 marathoner represented Kenya in the 2009 World Championships Marathon and the 2008 World Half Marathon Championships. Muraga was tested after winning the 2014 Cologne Marathon in 2:28:00 on September 19.
“She still has time to appeal,” Athletics Kenya chief executive Isaac Mwangi Kamande .
Muraga is just the latest in a string of doping positives in Kenyan runners. Rita Jeptoo, a two-time winner of both the Boston and Chicago Marathons, is the highest-profile Kenyan athlete to test positive for a banned substance. Her results were revealed in October. Athletics Kenya has blamed foreign agents and coaches for encouraging Kenyan runners to dope.
The International Association of Athletics Federations, with support from the World Marathon Majors, plans to open a new testing facility in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in two to three months, .