GENEVA, Ohio — Northeast Ohio's poor air quality crashed the fun at the opening day of the USA Track and Field National Youth Outdoor Championships at the Spire Institute in Geneva Wednesday, sidelining 1,200 athletes as the day's events got canceled.
Athletes, parents, and coaches first learning the 10 a.m. start time got delayed until noon, and then came the big disappointment of the whole day's events getting postponed to later in the week.
"I felt disappointed," 10-year-old runner Daniel Lopez said. "I felt mad."
USATF and Spire leadership deciding at noon to cancel all events for the day and squeeze the four-day event into the next three days.
"It was an unfortunate decision, but it wasn't a hard decision, because we care more for the safety of our participants," Robin Beamon, USATF director of outreach and grassroots programs, told 3News. "That's a very, very difficult and extreme condition to ask athletes to run in, especially when you're talking about children from the age of 7 to 18."
Spire President Jeff Orloff stressed they wouldn't risking anyone's health being affected.
"These kids are working for years, months, to get ready for this," he said. "This is a big deal, so to kind of put some of them in a situation where they couldn't perform at their best or they might not be able to do what they really had worked to do, that's a situation you don't want to get into. But first and foremost, it's about the safety, that everybody's going to be okay."
To keep the young athletes safe, officials are asking everyone to stay indoors, and they have health professionals with Cleveland Clinic at the facility to address any questions or concerns. The air quality alert in Ashtabula County has since been extended through Thursday, which could through the rest of the weekends events into flux.