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There aren’t really a ton of rules when it comes to running a marathon, a race that requires you to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. There are obviously some things you can’t do—like getting into a car to cut down on your time—but one ultra-marathon runner has been hit with a temporary ban for doing exactly that.
You have to be a bit of a masochist to willingly enter a race that requires you to traverse 26.2 miles—especially when you consider that particular type of competition was inspired by a guy who died after doing exactly that.
However, there are some people out there who view normal marathons as child’s play and opt to subject themselves to ultramarathons, a label that applies to any race that surpasses the 26.2-mile mark.
That includes Joasia Zakrzewski, a 47-year-old doctor from Scotland who’s routinely taken on some grueling running challenges. Earlier this year, she set a world record by traveling 255.7 miles on foot over the course of 48 hours, and she was hoping to be in the hunt when she participated in the 2023 GB Ultras for a 50-mile race between Manchester and Liverpool on April 7th.
When everything was said and done, Zakrzewski accepted a trophy after earning a spot on the podium with her third-place finish. However, according to The Guardian, she got a bit of help from a friend who let her ride in a car for 2.5 miles after falling victim to an injury during the competition.
Zakrzewski claimed she reached a point where she was ready to get back on the road herself and informed race marshalls she wanted to cross the finish line on a “non-competitive basis,” although those officials disputed that was the case while being questioned during the investigation.
She also asserted she had accepted the trophy because she was jet-lagged from a flight from Australia the night before the ultramarathon, but UK Athletics (the governing body that oversees races in Britain) noted she had ample opportunity to return the piece of hardware before the revelation came to light and have banned her from entering competitions in the country for a full year.