being a total shambles this year, officials of the Bermuda Track and Field Association said yesterday that Friday's event proved to be a resounding success.

"I must admit that there were times when it looked to be in jeopardy, but we always remained hopeful that it would take place,'' said meet director Mike Charles yesterday.

Leading up to the event was a frustrating experience with a host of problems ranging from obtaining confirmation of dates because of work taking place at National Stadium to getting elite Bermuda athletes based abroad to participate.

There was also a fear that the weather would prevent officials from putting new lines on the recently laid track.

Stanley Douglas, the BTFA official responsible for track and field, conceded that it was a rough period but, like Charles, felt that similar difficulties should be avoided next year since no further work is expected at the stadium.

"There were a lot of problems and uncertainties building up to the event and all I can say is that Mr. Charles and his organising committee had a heck of a task to deal with,'' said Douglas.

"But we always had a lot of faith in them to pull it off and that's exactly what they did. Although it came close to being a real crisis we were glad to see everything turn out okay.'' Both agreed that the real burden was the late completion of resurfacing the track and the delay forced them to cancel plans to stage the classic from the original May 21 date.

When officials were forced to cancel the rescheduled date of May 28 frustration really began to set in. Many foreign-based athletes, including Athlete of the Year Brian Wellman, had difficulty in fitting a new date into their schedules.

"Having the event in May was important to us because we wanted it to coincide with the Heritage month,'' said Douglas. "The problem was that we had committed the date to athletes some six months in advance and when it was cancelled it proved to be a setback.'' Despite those setbacks, Charles believes the future for track and field in Bermuda remained good judging by the response of athletes and fans during last Friday's event.

"Despite being unable to get the overseas people we would have liked to have had, the response by those who competed was great,'' said Charles. "It was also good to see the type of support we got from the fans.'' Meanwhile the BTFA are this week proceeding with plans to get as many youngsters as possible to meet qualifying times for the Junior Pan Am Games this summer by staging a mini track and field meet at National Stadium tomorrow starting at 6 p.m. A similar meet is also planned for next Tuesday.

Tomorrow's meet will feature five events with both sexes and all age groups eligible to participate.

It will get underway with the long jump and 400 metres followed by the 1,500 metres. The event will conclude with the 800 metres and javelin events.

"We are trying to give a little something for all of those youngsters who turned in encouraging performances last Friday, hoping this will give them a reasonable opportunity to qualify for the Junior Pan Am games,'' said Douglas.

The two mini meets will serve as a useful buildup for the Junior Championships which will be held at National Stadium on June 26 and 27.l