Ultra-marathon runner disqualified for using car in race to Liverpool - she still didn’t win

Top ultra-marathon runner Joasia Zakrzewski has been stripped of her place on the podium after using a car to cover part of a 50-mile race from Manchester to Liverpool.

Despite the dodgy tactics, Joasia Zakrzewsk, 47, from Dumfries, still only managed to finish third in the GB Ultras race on April 7.

She is believed to have travelled 2.5 miles in a car after mapping data uploaded to Strava found she covered a mile in one minute and 40 seconds.

Wayne Drinkwater, the director of the GB Ultras race, told the BBC it was ‘very disappointing’ and said the matter had been escalated to UK Athletics.

Zakrezewski, who finished 14th in the 2014 Commonwealth Games marathon in Scotland and has set records in the UK over 100 and 200 miles,  is said to have felt unwell during the race and is  ‘genuinely sorry’.

Mel Sykes, who has now been handed third place, commented: “The sad thing about all of this is that it completely takes the **** out of the race organisers, fellow competitors, and fair sport.

“How can someone who knows they cheated cross a finish line, receive a medal/trophy, and have their picture taken? With all of the data analysis we do these days, it’s also a bloody great tool for situations like this.

“To run 1:40min/miles at 90bpm with 0% cadence, you must be a superwoman. The audacity of uploading the data, complete with a trophy photo, makes this even worse!”