No positive drug tests emerged from the recent World Half Marathon Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport's international governing body, announced today.

In all, 15 urine and blood samples were collected during the championships held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on 1 October, while 101 blood samples were taken prior to the competition.

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania and Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania claimed the individual tiles. 144 competitors, 80 men and 64 women, finished the race.

"The IAAF continues to implement a large number of doping controls at all its events," said Istvan Gyulai, the IAAF General Secretary. "It is an encouraging sign that all samples taken in Edmonton have returned negative. We are committed to the fight against doping which, especially at this time of the year, means increased focus on our out-of-competition testing program."

According to an IAAF press release, blood sampling conducted during the pre-competition period focused on gathering haematological blood profiles and screening samples for the indication of EPO abuse, while samples taken during the in-competition period (urine and blood) were screened for all prohibited substances and methods.

"All the information gathered from this testing, particularly from the haematological profiles, will be used to better inform the IAAF,s future testing activities," the press statement read.

Only two positive tests, both from low-profile athletes, emerged from last August's World Championships in Helsinki. In all, 884 tests were carried out both prior to and during the championships on a total of 708 individual athletes in Helsinki.

IAAF officials will also be visiting Russia in November to continue preparations for the doping control program for the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships, to be held in Moscow from 10-12 March, 2006.