Scottish ultrarunner who used a car in 50-mile race receives one-year ban

Scottish ultrarunning record holder Joasia Zakrzewski used a car during a 50-mile race in April and accepted a third-place trophy, and on Wednesday, a UK Athletics (UKA) disciplinary panel handed her a one-year ban for breaching the UKA code of conduct for senior athletes. She has been banned from competing in any UKA licensed races, representing Great Britain, coaching or managing for a year.

Zakrzewski holds the Scottish 24-hour record, the British 200K and the Scottish 100 miles record, and ran the 48-hour world record in February (though her distance was bettered by Camille Herron in March). She told the BBC that while she did hitch a ride with a friend, her decision to do so “wasn’t malicious.”

Ultra-marathoner Joasia Zakrzewski has been banned for a year by UK Athletics for using a car in a race.
She had finished 3rd in the 50-mile race from Manchester to Liverpool in April.
Trackers later showed she traveled by car for about 2.5 miles before continuing the race. pic.twitter.com/CVoDwLm72o

— sporlitics (@sporlitics) November 16, 2023

GPS tracking information showed Zakrzewski travelled by car for about four kilometres before continuing the race. Zakrzewski claimed she made officials aware she had used a car, and had completed the race “in a non-competitive way.” 

Zakrzewski lives in Australia, and she reportedly travelled last-minute to the U.K. for the Manchester to Liverpool ultra on April 7, arriving the night before the race. As she told the BBC, she got lost on the course halfway through the race, at which point she began dealing with leg pain that eventually became too much to handle. She saw a friend on the sidelines and decided to pull out of the run, hopping in his car and heading to tell race marshals she was done for the day.

Zakrzewski denied deliberately cheating, and said that arriving from Australia the night before had left her unable to think straight, and had led to her wrongly accepting a trophy at the end of the race.

Former world record holder disqualified for taking a car during 50-mile race

“I made a massive error accepting the trophy and should have handed it back,” she said. “I was tired and jet-lagged and … I was feeling unwell and spaced out and not thinking clearly.” Zakrzewski’s car ride blip was not noticed immediately, but race director Wayne Drinkwater was eventually tipped off that she had received an “unsporting, competitive advantage during a section of the event.”

Zakrzewski insisted that course marshals persuaded her to continue the race, that she told them she was injured and had decided to keep going on a non-competitive basis. The marshals denied that she had told them about completing part of the course in a car.

In a written decision, the UKA panel determined that Zakrzewski’s claims were “contrary to the evidence of the marshals, evidence which the respondent did not seek to challenge or contest, by way of cross-examination at the hearing.”  Zakrzewski wrote a letter to the panel, stating: “I accept my actions on the day that I did travel in a car and then later completed the run, crossing the finish line and inappropriately receiving a medal and trophy, which I did not return immediately as I should have done.”

The UKA panel said it had considered Zakrzewski’s claims about her state of mind, but determined that she “had ample opportunity to remedy the situation, which she failed to do.” They also pointed out that she did not return the trophy the week following the race, and later posted on social media about her win.