An elite runner was disqualified from an ultramarathon after she was caught using a car for part of the race

• Scottish runner Joasia Zakrzewski was disqualified from an ultramarathon this week.
• Data uploaded to the app Strava found that she had used a car for a 2.5-mile stretch of the race.

An elite runner was disqualified from an ultramarathon after a tracking app showed she used a car for part of the race.

Joasia Zakrzewski, 47, finished third in the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool earlier this month. The race is 50 miles long.

However, race 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.

Wayne Drinkwater, the director of the GB Ultras race, said that Zakrzewski had been "disqualified from the event having taken vehicle transport during part of the route," the BBC reported on Tuesday.

She traveled by car for about 2.5 miles before continuing to complete the race, he added. Zakrzewski has been stripped of the result and the case has been referred to UK Athletics, the BBC reported.

Zakrzewski, who is a doctor and lives in Australia, issued a public apology on Wednesday, saying that her actions were a result of miscommunication, and were "not malicious," 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.

"I was tired and jetlagged and felt sick," Zakrzewski, who had flown in from Australia the day before, said.

"I hold my hands up, I should have handed them back and not had pictures done but I was feeling unwell and spaced out and not thinking clearly."

She did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Zakrzewski has competed in several ultramarathons and also raced for Scotland and Great Britain in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She has set a number of records including the Scottish 24-hour record and the Scottish 100 miles record.