AKRON, Ohio — Cross country runners can face many challenges on a course, including hills, mud, hot weather and cold temps. Usually, nothing stops them from crossing the finish line.Goodyear Heights Metro Park is known as a training ground for runners and for its challenging hill, but no one saw another challenge coming Tuesday afternoon during a City League meet: wasps.
Claire Merrick, manager of marketing and public relations for Summit County Metro Parks, doesn't believe any of the runners suffered any serious allergic reactions. "We are a natural resource and wildlife is welcome in all of our parks, and so, sometimes this happens. We're just happy that our crews were able to come in and handle the situation immediately," Merrick said."We just encourage everybody to be aware and we encourage everybody to notify us if they notice anything like this."