If Sonia O'Sullivan eventually moves on to marathon running and Catherina McKiernan can recover from the injury that has plagued her career for over a year, the two world-class athletes may become some of the first runners to be subjected to blood testing.

The big five marathons in New York, Chicago, Berlin, Boston and London have signed a seven-point declaration demanding that the International Amateur Athletic Federation and national governing bodies implement the system of blood testing at all sanctioned events as soon as possible.

While careful not to accuse athletes of any wrongdoing, the declaration hopes to silence allegations and rumours over the taking of EPO by some of the principal athletes in the sport.

Al Guy, the chief testing officer in Ireland for the company IDTM, says blood testing would not be a problem in this country as IDTM have several trained nurses available to extract blood if required.