Four student-athletes were treated for asthma and heat exhaustion, and one spectator also needed medical attention Wednesday afternoon at a high school cross-country meet in Manchester, an event that local EMTs say they knew nothing about.
Runners from more than 30 high school teams across the state congregated at Manchester's Wickham this afternoon for the annual Central Connecticut Conference Cross Country Championship.
Temperatures climbed toward 80 degrees, and the unseasonable warmth and stifling humidity took its toll. Firefighter said the first student-athlete developed breathing problems around 3:30 p.m., just half an hour after the meet kicked off, according to mysportsresults.com.
"Our initial crews arrived, treated that kid, and while they were treating him, someone else came to them with difficulty breathing as well," explained Manchester Fire Battalion Chief Joshua Beaulieu.
Soon two more runners came down with heat exhaustion, and one adult spectator was taken to the hospital for treatment of an unrelated medical condition. Four ambulances were called to the scene to bring them to local hospitals. Fire officials said one of the students suffering heat exhaustion was treated at the scene.
Fire officials said they were never informed the event was happening. According to David Skoczulek of the Manchester Ambulance Service, ambulances were not requested to be on standby during the meet.
"Certainly, it wouldn't have hurt to have us there," Skoczulek said.
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Betty Knapp, the CCC liaison for cross-country, said Thursday evening that the conference will make some changes to prevent a similar event from happening in the future.
"In light of the weather circumstances that occurred today, we will either increase medical coverage or change the way we run the championship. We will review that at our next conference meeting," Knapp said in a statement.
A dozen firefighters and EMTs responded to the park and remained on scene until the end of the final race in the event that other runners became sick.
