Ultrarunner Disqualified for Taking a Car?!

A world record mile in an ultramarathon or did she jump in a car? That was the question that faced GB Ultras, the organisers of Manchester to Liverpool 50 mile race, when they were reviewing data on their third place female finisher; Joasia Zakrzewski.

Obviously the question did not take long to answer and Zakrzewski’s podium was stripped and she has now been referred to UK athletics and the Trail Running Association for further investigation and punishment. 

The Team Scotland runner, represented her country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the marathon and has a string of race wins under her belt but those wins now face investigations as everything prior to this event is getting called into question. 

The most recent of these wins was in February at a 48 hour race in Taiwan that she won outright and set a world record of the 255 miles which we can confirm is getting investigated by numerous individuals.

The cheating during the tough but beautiful ultra was discovered after her GPX data revealed that she did a mile of the race in one minute 40 seconds. Further investigation proved that she had in fact taken the car for 2.5 miles, giving her a huge advantage over her competitors to take the podium spot. While a friend has stated that she took the lift because she felt sick after only arriving in the country from Australia 48 hours before there has been little sympathy for her online with many calling for a blanket ban on the runner for all events going forward.

But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.