This week, a Scottish ultra marathon runner Joasia Zakrzewski lost her third-place finish after race organizers discovered she had used a car for part of the race.
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According to reports, organizers of the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool event found discrepancies in Zakrzewski’s performance on April 7 by reviewing race data uploaded to the running app Strava.
The data revealed she had covered a mile in just one minute and 40 seconds. This discovery led them to investigate further and they interviewed a number of people involved, including Zakrzewski. In all, they think she rode in a car for 2.5 miles of the 50-mile race.
In an interview with the BBC, Zakrzewski’s friend Adrian Stott spoke on her behalf. He explained she arrived in the area the night before after traveling for 48 hours from Australia.
“The race didn’t go to plan. She said she was feeling sick and tired on the race and wanted to drop out,” Stott said. He added: “She genuinely feels sorry for any upset caused.”
In February, Zakrzewski reportedly set a world record for running the most miles — 255.7 — in a 48-hour period. And in years prior, she set a number of records and medaled in other major ultra events.
The BBC reported that the issue is now with the organizations that license the event.
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