With the impeding construction of the new artificial turf and the resurfacing of the track at Bainbridge High School, it put all-comers meet founder Jim Whiting in a bit of a pickle.

But he didn’t have to go far to look for a replacement track.

This year’s all-comers meets marks the 14th straight year of the event and will take place at Woodward Middle School and run every Monday at 6:30 p.m. starting on July 7 and will run through August 25.

This year’s events are largely the same: the 50 meter dash, the 100, the 200, the 400, the 800, the 1600 and the 4×100 and a new addition in the 4×400 relays, which was a request of many a runner last year.

Whiting said Woodward was a easy choice for a secondary location.

“I pretty much figured we’d always come here,” he said. “I was really gratified when I talked to the grounds and custodial people and found how supportive they were.

“They’ll drag the track for us (Woodward’s track is all dirt) and when I asked how much that would cost, they said it would cost nothing, because we’re behind your program.”

Whiting gets another benefit with the event’s sponsor, Bainbridge Self Storage, being right across the street from the middle school.

He said they plan to get more involved by providing bottled water at all the meets this summer.

The only expense is providing restroom facilities at the event. Whiting is unsure whether he or the school board will pay for the cost.

With the cost of the resurfacing of the track along with the restructuring of several field events (such as the discus, the shot put and the long jump areas) covered, Whiting is happy to take advantage of it.

“It’s been so bad for so long,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to using it next summer.”

But he said he won’t expand the meet to include field events for safety reasons.

“Anytime you have flying objects, like a shotput or discus or even bodies around young kids, there’s too much danger of someone getting hurt,” he said. “We’ve done the long jump a number of times in the past, so that’s worked out well. We’ll probably have that again this year.”

While he feels a “falling off” of runners is possible, Whiting said he has had numerous people ask him for information on when – and where – the meet will be held.

“I think most of them will show up out of habit,” he said. “Hopefully we can provide the same kind of experience so that people aren’t disappointed by the change.”

Whiting said aside from weather concerns, the least of his worries will be creating lanes on the track.

“The younger kids, they kind of weave in and out anyway,” he said.

The results from each meet will be posted in the Review and on Whiting’s website at www.jimwhiting.com.

For more info, e-mail jimwhiting@gmail.com or call 295-0337.