All comers track meets are usually small local

track and field athletics Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

events. The size of the meet can vary widely, from a handful to hundreds of participants. The formal elements required are a place for the race to take place, and neutral officials to start and judge the finish of a race. All comers track meets have been long standing traditions held in most major cities across the United States and Canada. Some series have a history going back over 50 years. There is a winter season typically starting in December and going through the end of February, which can use indoor facilities. The summer season starts around the beginning of June and goes into August. A regularly updated listing of such meets is kept on the North American All Comers Meet Directory. In June 2009, this site listed over fifty active all comer track meet series in North America. The phrase ''all comers'' is used in North America, Oceana and English speaking Asia. Larger meets can be seeded. Some meets are formally organized with all races prepared by registering hours or days in advance, some just break people up by their age groups, less formal meets might just ask the athletes standing at the start line how fast they plan on running. Each meet can choose to limit or define the events they wish to hold, some limited to running events, sprints, jumps or throws. Occasionally meets are called "all comers" but are actually limited by the age groups served or have qualifying standards that entrants must have achieved in order to enter. Many of those requirements are set because of the limitations of the facilities or the number of volunteers available.

Records

USATF keeps American records for All-Comers Meets.USATF, Nov 7, 2021

Retrieved Nov 7, 2021 Fortune Gordien set the world record in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

at a 1953 all-comers meet in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

that lasted almost six years. ''Guinness Book of Track and Field: Facts and Feats'' called the audience of 48, the smallest crowd ever to witness a world record.

Notable all comers series

* DCRRC Track Championships,

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metropolitan area, started 1997 *LAUSD Series,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, CA, started 1962 *Los Gatos Series ( San Jose, CA area) started 1980 *Club Northwest Series,

Shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

, WA, (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

area) started 1969 *Hal Martin All Comers Series, Rochester, MN started 1973 *Atlanta Track Club Series,

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, GA *Potomac Valley Series

*University of Chicago Series,

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, IL *Oregon Track Club Summer All Comers Meets, Eugene, OR *Bellingham Summer All Comers Meets, Bellingham, WA

References

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External links

North American All Comers Meet Directory
Track and field in the United States Athletics (track and field) in Canada