102 ROTTEN RACE

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RUNNER DISQUALIFIED FOR USING A CAR DURING A RACE

Joasia Zakrzewski, an experienced ultramarathon runner from Australia, was stripped of her bronze medal and trophy, won in a recent 50-mile race, after organizers learned that she had used a car for a portion of the course.

Zakrzewski finished third in the 2023 GB Ultras 50-mile (80km) Race from Manchester to Liverpool, and she even posed with her medal and trophy after crossing the finish line, despite knowing that she had broken the rules of the competition.

After analyzing GPS data, race organizers learned that Zakrzewski had reached a speed of 35 mph (56 km/h) during a short section of the race, which made her faster than Usain Bolt, the fastest human in history! After questioning race staff, witnesses, and the runner herself, Joasia Zakrzewski was disqualified and stripped of her medal for riding in a friend’s car during the race.

The Australia-based, Scottish athlete said that her troubles began after flying from Australia the night before the race. She felt sick and experienced severe jetlag but decided to take part in the ultramarathon, anyway.

Around the halfway mark, she began feeling serious pain in one of her legs and decided to quit. It was at this point that she accepted a ride in a friend’s car to a race checkpoint to inform staff that she was dropping out.

“When I got to the checkpoint, I told them that I was quitting and that I had been in the car, and they said, ‘You will hate yourself if you stop,’” Zakrzewski said. “I agreed to carry on in a non-competitive way. I made sure I did not overtake the runner in front when I saw her because I did not want to affect her race.”

Zakrzewski admits that she made a big mistake by accepting the bronze medal and trophy for finishing third as well as by smiling for photos, as if nothing had happened, but she claims that she was not thinking clearly at the time because she was tired and unwell. The athlete has since returned the medal and trophy and apologized to the runner whose place she stole.

“Great news for me but really bad news for sportsmanship,” said Mel Sykes, who finally received the third-place medal. “The change of results happened because a fellow competitor cheated. After investigation, she has now been disqualified and rightly so. How can someone, who knows that she has cheated, cross a finish line, collect a medal and trophy, and have her photos taken!”

And those facts really are the main problems with Zakrzewski’s explanation. Even if she really did make a stupid mistake in the heat of the moment, why not admit to it sooner, not days after the race? She waited to be contacted by organizers after her GPS data was analyzed again. Only then did she admit, again, to riding in a car for about 2.5 miles.

Zakrzewski’s cheating scandal shocked the international running scene, since she is an experienced athlete with dozens of races under her belt. Just weeks ago, she broke the world record for the most miles run by a woman in 48 hours. Now, she has this shameful black mark on her resume.