The city that gave us Seb Coe and Jessica Ennis-Hill does not currently have a useable outdoor athletics track for competitions.

Sheffield famously produced athletes such as Seb Coe and Jessica Ennis-Hill and was even touted by sports minister Richard Caborn in 2001 as a venue for the World Athletics Championships. But there is currently no useable synthetic outdoor athletics track in the city after England Athletics removed the Woodbourn Road stadium's TrackMark accreditation.

BBC has reported that the licence has expired at Woodbourn Road, a facility which is owned by Sheffield Hallam University.

The track was built in 1987 but has been the city's main outdoor track since the controversial demolition of Don Valley Stadium in 2013.

Don Valley was build for the World University Games in 1991 and subsequently staged international televised grand prix meetings and events like the English Schools Championships. Yet the decision was made 13 years ago to knock it down, leading to an angry response at the time from local athletes and coaches.

Ironically, little over a decade earlier Don Valley had been proposed by sports minister Richard Caborn to the IAAF (the forerunner of World Athletics) as a potential venue for the World Athletics Championships following the collapse of plans to stage the event at Lee Valley in north London.

The nearby Woodbourn Road attempted to fill the void following the loss of Don Valley. Meanwhile indoor facilities were created at the English Institute of Sport centre next to Don Valley, with an indoor 200m track.

The Woodbourn Road venue can still be used for training but can no longer stage licensed competitions. Sheffield Hallam University says it cannot afford the £1.5m upgrade needed but is working on a long-term solution.

A spokesperson for Sheffield Hallam University told BBC: "We appreciate how disappointing this news will be for the athletics community, and we are contacting affected users to offer support, discuss alternative arrangements where needed, and help minimise the disruption as far as possible.

"An independent inspection process has highlighted that the facility requires more than £1.5m of investment to meet the standards required for reaccreditation, and the university is not in a financial position to commit to this level of investment."