A Scottish ultra-marathon runner has been stripped of her third place finish at the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool 80km race on April 7 after she took a car for 4km of the race.
The data tracking on Joasia Zakrzewski showed that the runner used a car for a 4km stretch of the race, according to the BBC.
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Dr Zakrzewski is no slouch on the running front either, having represented Scotland at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the marathon.
She also holds several national records and set a world 48-hour run record in February, running 255 miles (410km).
The 46-year-old doctor reportedly covered a mile of the race in just 100 seconds at one point, a speed of 36 miles per hour (58km/h).
For context, Bolt’s top speed during his world record 100m sprint was 43.99 kilometres per hour.
The data revealed she had gone just over 4km by car which is believed to have given her time a boost of as much as 25 minutes.
It’s significant as she finished just 22 seconds behind the runner up in a time of seven hours and 25 minutes.
Race director Wayne Drinkwater told the BBC Zakrzewski had been disqualified after gaining an “unsporting, competitive advantage during a section of the event”.
“Having reviewed the data from our race tracking system, GPX data, statements provided from our event team, other competitors and from the participant herself, we can confirm that a runner has now been disqualified from the event having taken vehicle transport during part of the route,” he said.
However, the woman promoted to third place, Mel Sykes who said her rival “cheated”.
A friend of Zakrzewski said she had been feeling sick and wanted to drop out after only arriving from Australia the night before.
“She has co-operated fully with the race organisers’ investigations, giving them a full account of what happened,” Adrian Stott said.
“She genuinely feels sorry for any upset caused.”
Zakrzewski holds the Scottish 24-hour record, British 200km and Scottish 100 mile records.
Scottish Athletics chairman David Ovens hoped Zakrzewski could move forward from the scandal.
“It is very disappointing to hear this, given Joasia’s had such a successful period over the last few years,” he said.
“I hope she can put this behind her and that there is an innocent explanation and she can resume her successful career.”
