Curio Cabinet / Sporty Curio
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FREERunning Sporty CurioFree1 CQ
There’s no such thing as a shortcut during a marathon. Scottish ultramarathon star Joasia Zakrzewski has been accused of cheating at the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race by traveling for 2.5 miles of the competition in a car. Zakrzewski is an accomplished runner based on her past performance, with a record-setting win back in February at the Taipei Ultramarathon, a grueling 255-mile race that takes place over 48 hours. She has also medaled three times at the IAU World 100km Championships while competing for Great Britain, with one silver and two bronzes. So, her recent alleged cheating came as something of a shock to the ultramarathon community. However, Zakrzewski claims that she only accepted a car ride from a friend because she was feeling too sick and exhausted to finish the race, and was planning to inform officials at the next checkpoint that she’d be dropping out. She claims that those officials encouraged her to finish the race non-competitively. However, when she got to the finish line, she didn’t inform the officials there of her decision. As a result, she was given the third place medal and a trophy, which she didn’t refuse. In fact, her mid-tournament car ride was only discovered when officials reviewed data from Strava, a running and cycling app used by Zakrzewski and others during the race. It revealed that she had “run” 1.6 km in one minute and 40 seconds, which would have made her far faster than even world-record-holder Usain Bolt. When asked to explain her failure to notify officials of her decision to drop out, Zakrzewski blamed exhaustion and jetlag from flying to England from Australia. Whether she meant to cheat or not, that return flight might just be punishment enough.
[Image description: A woman’s feet hover over the ground as she runs.] Credit & copyright: SAM7682, Pixabay. Image is not associated with Joasia Zakrzewski or the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race.
There’s no such thing as a shortcut during a marathon. Scottish ultramarathon star Joasia Zakrzewski has been accused of cheating at the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race by traveling for 2.5 miles of the competition in a car. Zakrzewski is an accomplished runner based on her past performance, with a record-setting win back in February at the Taipei Ultramarathon, a grueling 255-mile race that takes place over 48 hours. She has also medaled three times at the IAU World 100km Championships while competing for Great Britain, with one silver and two bronzes. So, her recent alleged cheating came as something of a shock to the ultramarathon community. However, Zakrzewski claims that she only accepted a car ride from a friend because she was feeling too sick and exhausted to finish the race, and was planning to inform officials at the next checkpoint that she’d be dropping out. She claims that those officials encouraged her to finish the race non-competitively. However, when she got to the finish line, she didn’t inform the officials there of her decision. As a result, she was given the third place medal and a trophy, which she didn’t refuse. In fact, her mid-tournament car ride was only discovered when officials reviewed data from Strava, a running and cycling app used by Zakrzewski and others during the race. It revealed that she had “run” 1.6 km in one minute and 40 seconds, which would have made her far faster than even world-record-holder Usain Bolt. When asked to explain her failure to notify officials of her decision to drop out, Zakrzewski blamed exhaustion and jetlag from flying to England from Australia. Whether she meant to cheat or not, that return flight might just be punishment enough.
[Image description: A woman’s feet hover over the ground as she runs.] Credit & copyright: SAM7682, Pixabay. Image is not associated with Joasia Zakrzewski or the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race.