(Division 3A action from the 2019 meet)
The 2020 Tiffin Cross Country Carnival, originally scheduled for Saturday, September 12th at Hedges-Boyer Park, has been cancelled.
The news, initially reported by Zach Baker from the Advertiser-Tribune, was released late last week with the rationale being to avoid large gatherings amidst the Covid-19 pandemic:
"With the runners that we had last year, and you probably quadruple that (number) for spectators and staff." "We just can't have that number in Seneca County right now," Seneca County Health Commissioner Beth Schweitzer said to Baker.
As Baker indicates in his social media post below, the current plan is for the host school, Columbian, to put on a smaller scale invite with teams from surrounding counties on the original date of the Carnival (September 12th).
The XC Carnival, which has been in existence for 52 years, is Ohio's largest meet and one of the Midwest region's biggest gatherings, as well. Last year, according to the MileSplit database, there were 5,888 confirmed performances across the many different races that were held.
A staple on the MileSplit Ohio coverage schedule, the Carnival brings in, not only mass numbers of participants from several states, but also nationally recognized talent year-after-year.
In 2019, eventual Division 2 state champion, Caleb Brown ran away from the field in the D2 contest, as he produced an outstanding 5K time of 14:56.30.
The Tiffin Carnival isn't Ohio's only premier meet to go on hiatus for the upcoming campaign. We reported on Friday that Centerville's Saturday Night Lights will also not take place in 2020.
The understanding, at this time, is that both meets will resume for the 2021 season and beyond.
Please contact site editor, Mark Dwyer with information pertaining to 2020 meet cancellations and we will update our events calendar accordingly.
E-Mail: mark.dwyer@flosports.tv
