ultra marathon runner Joasia Zakrzewski was disqualified from a race earlier this month in which she placed third after authorities found she had been riding in a car for part of the race.
The 47 year old man scotch runner he completed the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool 50-mile race on April 7 when race officials discovered, after presenting Zakrzewski with a third-place trophy, that he had traveled 2.5 miles by car, the BBC reported.
Joasia Zakrzewski of Scotland competes in the first The Arctic Triple – Lofoten Ultra-Trail on June 4, 2016 in Svolvaer, Norway. (Kai-Otto Melau/Getty Images)
The data showed that Zakrzewski covered a race mile in just 1:40.
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She told the outlet on Wednesday that the entire situation was a “miscommunication.”
Zakrzewski explained that she began to feel pain in her leg when she accepted a ride from a friend. She had intended to tell the race officials at the next checkpoint that she would retire, but she said that when she caught up with them, she decided to “continue in a non-competitive manner”.
But when Zakrzewski crossed the finish line, he accepted the third-place medal without saying a word.
“I made a big mistake accepting the trophy and I should have returned it,” he told the outlet. “I was tired and jetlagged and felt sick.”
“I put my hands up, I should have put them back and not taken pictures, but I felt bad and distracted and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Joasia Zakrzewski of Scotland competes in the first The Arctic Triple – Lofoten Ultra-Trail on June 4, 2016 in Svolvaer, Norway. (Kai-Otto Melau/Getty Images)
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But race director Wayne Drinkwater disputed this saying, Zakrzewski “made no attempt” to rectify the situation days after the race.
“At the finish site, Joasia crossed the finish line timing mat, received her finisher’s medal and was presented with her trophy. At no point at the finish did Joasia inform the event team that she ‘was not running the race competitively.'”
He added: “None of our event team in question, with written statements to confirm this, knew that Joasia had vehicle transport at any time during the race until we received post-race information from another competitor.”
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A new third place winner was named.
“It was not malicious,” Zakrzewski told the BBC. “It was a miscommunication.”
It is unclear if the decorated runner will face further disciplinary action.
