Key Points
- Joasia Zakrzewski claimed third place at the GB Ultras in the UK.
- Then organisers discovered the Scottish runner had used a car.
- The NSW-based GP said the incident "wasn't malicious, it was miscommunication".
A NSW doctor has denied she was trying to cheat after being stripped of third place in an ultra-marathon event.
Joasia Zakrzewski, a Scottish distance runner who practices as a GP in NSW, had travelled from Australia to the UK for the gruelling race earlier this month.
She was forced to hand back her third-place trophy after race organisers reviewed data that showed she had used a vehicle for part of the route.
Data from the tracking system at the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool 80km race on 7 April showed that Dr Zakrzewski, who represented Scotland in the marathon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, used a car for a 4km stretch of the race, the BBC reported.
Race director Wayne Drinkwater said he had received information that a runner had gained an "unsporting, competitive advantage during a section of the event".
He told the BBC: "Having reviewed the data from our race tracking system, GPX data, statements provided from our event team, other competitors and from the participant herself, we can confirm that a runner has now been disqualified from the event having taken vehicle transport during part of the route."
'I would never purposefully cheat'
Dr Zakrzewski said the incident was a result of a miscommunication, and was not an attempt to cheat.
"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'," she told the BBC.
"I agreed to carry on in a non-competitive way.
"I made a massive error accepting the trophy and should have handed it back. I was tired and jetlagged and felt sick.
"It wasn't malicious, it was miscommunication. I would never purposefully cheat and this was not a target race, but I don't want to make excuses."
