A 50-Mile Race, a Quick Car Ride and a Scandal at the Finish Line

NYT SPORT: A 50-Mile Race, a Quick Car Ride and a Scandal at the Finish Line
By Victor Mather
Section: Sports
Source: New York Times

An ultramarathoner was disqualified after covering part of a course in a friend’s car. She said it was a “miscommunication.” A rival had a different word: cheating.

Almost any endurance athlete who has ever gone on a long run has probably, at some particularly vulnerable moment, seen a car whiz by and been tempted, if only for a moment, to hook out a thumb, catch a lift and avoid suffering through the miles ahead.

Perhaps that explains why accusations of cheating involving competitive runners seem to crop up every few years. A suspicious time. A course cut short. A bus ride taken.

In the latest incident, a top-ranked ultramarathoner had her third-place finish in a race in England earlier this month invalidated because she got a ride in a car for two and a half miles of the 50-mile course.

Tracking data showed the runner, Joasia Zakrzewski, had completed one mile of the Manchester to Liverpool race on April 7 in 1 minute 40 seconds, a split much more likely to be posted by a late-model sedan than by a 47-year-old human being on two legs.

Zakrzewski of Britain was disqualified from the race, and the matter was referred to governing bodies for possible further action. She said she had actually quit the race and accepted a ride to tell organizers at the next check-in spot of that decision, but was encouraged to try to finish the race. She called her acceptance of the third-place award “a miscommunication.” Not everyone, though, was ready to forgive.

Published Date: April 19, 2023 at 03:00AM

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/sports/joasia-zakrzewski-ultramarathon-cheating.html