A so-called elite runner won third place in an ultramarathon — by sitting in a car for part of the race. Of course she was disqualified once her unique way of winning a 50-mile race was discovered.
Joasia Zakrzewski, a 47-year-old Scottish runner, took part in the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race, and somehow thought it was okay to hop in a car for a 2.5 mile stretch. After she accepted a trophy and was later caught for cheating, she defended herself by claiming it was all a miscommunication and that her actions were "not malicious" but simply a "massive error."
From Yahoo!:
[R]ace officials grew suspicious after data Zakrzewski uploaded to the running and cycling app Strava showed that she ran a mile in just one minute 40 seconds, the BBC reported. …
Around halfway through the course, she said she got lost and stopped running after her leg started to hurt. When she saw a friend nearby, she asked him to drive her to the next checkpoint so she could tell race officials that she was dropping out.
"When I got to the checkpoint I told them I was pulling out and that I had been in the car, and they said: 'You will hate yourself if you stop,'" Zakrzewski told the BBC.
"I agreed to carry on in a non-competitive way. I made sure I didn't overtake the runner in front when I saw her as I didn't want to interfere with her race," she added.
However, when she crossed the finish line, Zakrzewski accepted the third-place trophy and posed for pictures. Zakrzewski told the BBC this was a "massive error" and she should have given it back.
