IAAF track athletes struggle in Moncton heat

The hot and humid weather that is hitting southeastern New Brunswick is causing athletes to struggle at the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships in Moncton.

A New Brunswick runner smashed a Canadian record on Tuesday in front of a thrilled hometown crowd, but the weather took its toll on other athletes. 

One athlete collapsed at the finish line during an opening 3,000-metre race.

Dr. Bob Adams, an IAAF medical delegate, said heat and humidity likely was a factor in the athlete's troubles.

"The humidity and the heat temperatures itself, the combination, makes it very difficult," Adams said.

"We had medical personnel working around the area, some people back in the tents, a lot of them were warm and they hadn't run 3,000 metres."

Performance dropping

Nadine Nembhard, the head therapist for Team Canada, said the hot and sticky weather is making the competition very difficult for distance runners, race walkers and athletes in steeplechase.

"You'll just see their performance drop off a little bit. They're just not getting the energy to their muscles that they need," Nembhard said.

"Sometimes you'll see them after the race and they'll start to crumble a little bit."

But for other athletes, where the action is quick and over in seconds, Nembhard said, this weather is an advantage and far more preferable to cool temperatures.

"It definitely can be advantageous," she said.

"So for sprinters, jumpers, throwers the heat can be a good thing, it helps to keep their bodies warm and limber."

Bruny Surin, a former Canadian relay champion, has competed in all kinds of weather and said the heat will help certain athletes.

"Weather like this, very hot very humid, for sprinters, 100 [metres], 200 [metres] that's the very best, when you have weather like that," Surin said.

"And when you warm up you feel your muscles all ready to fire up. I remember every time I have this kind of condition always I perform very well."