‘I made a massive error accepting the trophy’: Ultra-marathon runner disqualified for using a car says friend gave her a lift ‘because her leg hurt’ before she carried on ‘non-competitively’ after race marshals told her ‘you’ll hate yourself if you stop’
- Dr Joasia Zakrzewski, 47, denied claims that she would ‘purposefully cheat’
- Ultra-marathon runner said she was ‘devastated’ by backlash she has received
A top runner who was disqualified from an ultra-marathon after riding in a car for a portion of the race said she was ‘not thinking clearly’ when she accepted a third place medal.
Joasia Zakrzewski finished third in the 2023 GB Ultras this month, but was accused of travelling two and a half miles of the route by car after concerns were raised about her Strava data.
The ultra-marathon runner, who works as a GP, said that her actions were ‘not malicious’ and that she accepted the lift after she started limping around the half-way mark of the 50-mile Manchester to Liverpool race.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Dr Zakrzewski denied claims that she would ‘purposefully cheat’ and insisted what happened ‘wasn’t malicious’ but down to a ‘miscommunication’ after she agreed to carry on with the race ‘non-competitively’.
The 47-year-old from Dumfries, Scotland, said that during the race she started to experience leg pain that became so bad that when she saw a friend she decided to accept a lift to the next checkpoint to tell marshals she was pulling out.
Joasia Zakrzewski, 47, (left) has been disqualified from the 2023 GB Ultras after she allegedly used a car to give her aching legs a break during the high-profile 50-mile race
Joasia Zakrzewski finished third in the race, above, but has since been accused travelling two and a half miles of the route by car. The runner is understood to have been caught after tracking data showed she attained a ‘super-human’ speed of 35mph
When she arrived at the checkpoint, Dr Zakrzewski claims she told event officials she had been in the car and was dropping out, however they convinced her to carry on in an ‘non-competitive way’ telling her: ‘You will hate yourself if you stop’.
When she finished the race, she received a medal, trophy and posed for photographs but said in hindsight this was a ‘massive error’ and that she should have handed the accolades back.
READ MORE: ‘How can someone who cheated cross a finish line and collect a medal?’ Rivals call for record-breaking British ultra-marathon runner, 47, to be kicked out of the sport after she was ‘DRIVEN at 35mph for part of a 50-mile race because she felt sick’
Having flown in from Australia the night before, Dr Zakrzewski, who now lives in Sydney, said she was ‘tired and jetlagged’ and was ‘not thinking clearly’.
Just weeks earlier Dr Zakrzewski smashed the world record for the most miles run by a woman in 48 hours, but has since been beaten by US runner Camille Herron.
Dr Zakrzewski added that she was ‘devastated’ at the backlash she has received, including some calling for a lifetime ban for the athlete who represented Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Wayne Drinkwater, the director of the GB Ultras race, said the disqualification came back after he received information that a competitor had gained an ‘unsporting, competitive advantage during a section of the event’.
He added: ‘The issue has been investigated and, having reviewed the data from our race tracking system, GPX data, statements provided from our event team, other competitors and from the participant herself, we can confirm that a runner has now been disqualified from the event having taken vehicle transport during part of the route.’
A report has been submitted to the Trail Running Association, which provides the licence for the event and is an associate member of UK Athletics, he added.
Friends claim Dr Zakrzewski (pictured at the race) accepted the lift as she was feeling ‘sick’, having flown in from Australia the night before, and say she is ‘genuinely sorry’
It came after almost 400 runners braved a 6am start to pound the roads from Manchester to Liverpool for the annual 50-mile Ultra Marathon on Good Friday, April 7.
Stopping en route for calorie-laden snacks and drinks to give them much-needed energy, the committed amateurs spent up to 13 hours relentlessly chalking off the miles.
Crossing the finish line just 22 seconds behind the runner-up in the women’s category in a time of seven hours and 25 minutes, Dr Zakrzewski was photographed proudly posing with her bronze medal.
However rumours quickly began swirling around her achievement.
Examination of tracking data showed she had covered around two and a half miles of the route by car – potentially gaining as much as 25 minutes.
Dr Zakrzewski at the GB Ultras this month. Fellow competitors have also questioned whether her previous results and records would now be investigated
In addition, it showed she followed the main road rather than the race route for part of the event. She is understood to have covered a mile of the race in just one minute 40 seconds.
The medal for the third-placed woman was instead awarded to NHS podiatrist Mel Sykes, who took to Twitter to slam her shamed rival as a ‘cheat’, saying it was ‘great news for me but really bad news for sportsmanship.’
Answering questions about how her rival was caught, Ms Sykes added: ‘Too many people noticed things were amiss and contacted the race organisers separately, so they had to launch an investigation.’
Race data uploaded to the sports app Strava by Dr Zakrzewski and shared on Twitter by Ms Sykes revealed she ‘hadn’t taken the race route’, Ms Sykes alleged. She also claimed there was a section where Dr Zakrzewski’s performance figures ‘didn’t add up’.
Ms Sykes complained the runner’s actions ‘completely takes the p**s out of the race organisers, fellow competitors and fair sport’.
‘How can someone who knows they have cheated cross a finish line, collect a medal/trophy and have their photos taken?!’ she added.
Examination of tracking data showed Dr Zakrzewski (pictured at the race) had covered around two and a half miles of the route by car – potentially gaining as much as 25 minutes.
Race data uploaded to the sports app Strava by Dr Zakrzewski and shared on Twitter by Mel Sykes, the runner who was given her third-place medal, allegedly revealed she ‘hadn’t taken the race route’. She also claimed there was a section where Dr Zakrzewski’s performance figures ‘didn’t add up’
The saga recalls the infamous case of a marathon runner who was stripped of third place after admitting taking a bus part way round.
Rob Sloan later claimed he’d became tired at the 20-mile mark of the 2011 Kielder Marathon in Northumberland, and hopped on the free spectators’ bus.
He later retracted his confession but was banned from running races.
It comes as fellow competitors from the Manchester-to-Liverpool race expressed their astonishment, with some calling for Dr Zakrzewski to be banned.
Keith Johnstone, who finished 46th in the updated ranking, said: ‘If somebody doesn’t complete the course they should be named, shamed and disqualified.’
He said it was ‘great news that justice has been served’, adding that he would ‘rather die on my feet than cheat’.
Colin Rushton, who came 59th, said: ‘Such a crazy thing to do in a race that has no prize money or qualifies you into anything.
‘I just need another 50-odd to be disqualified, though, before I end up on the podium.’
The event – in its seventh year – begins at Salford Quays and follows the Trans-Pennine Trail, Manchester Ship Canal and River Mersey, finishing at the Railway Club in Aintree.
Scottish Athletics said it was ‘aware of the issue’.
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