Scots ultramarathon runner hit with 12 month ban for jumping in CAR during 50-mile race

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Marathon runner Joasia Zakrzewski has been hit with a one-year ban for using a car to travel part of a race last year without flagging it to race organisers.A three-man UK Athletics disciplinary panel found the 37-year-old from Scotland had “failed to comply with the code of conduct for senior athletes” in accepting third place in a Manchester to Liverpool 50-mile race in April 2023.

The Dumfries-born runner claimed she had suffered a sore leg and that she was hit by jet leg after arriving from her base in Australia, but officials subsequently disqualified Zakrzewski following a tip off that she had “acted without integrity”.However the panel rejected her protests, insisting that “she chose not to disclose what had happened rather than embarrass herself” although it recommended a lenient punishment due to her previous spotless record and co-operation with UKA’s investigation.

The ruling from Clive Dobbin read: “The panel accepted this mitigation but also noted that there were aggravating factors. The Respondent was an experienced athlete, competing successfully at the highest level.

She also acted as team manager for the international team.“As such, the Respondent had a responsibility to uphold the rules, and this made it even more serious that she breached them, and did not correct this either when finishing the race or thereafter.