Bermuda’s athletics team did their Island proud in Jersey yesterday, picking up a trio of medals on the second day of the NatWest Island Games.

Taahira Butterfield and Natasha Trott dominated the women’s 100m field, following their top qualifying times with a gold and silver medal, respectively, in the final race.

It was Butterfield who claimed the top prize, beating out Trott with a time of 12.24sec. Trott was not far off, finishing in 12.32sec and followed by Faye Cox of the Shetland Islands, who finished in 12.39sec.

“I’m coming back from injury and this was the first time I’ve competed this season, and my first Island Games. It’s great and the crowd here is fantastic,” Butterfield said.

Chris Estwanik, star of yesterday’s half marathon, took silver in the men’s 5,000m race after a close battle with Harvey Dixon, from Gibraltar.

The 35-year-old lead the field of 15 athletes from early on but Dixon was always close behind, and with 600 metres to go took the lead. Estwanik challenged again and briefly resumed first place but Dixon stuck to his shoulder along the back straight and with a 100m to go picked up the pace and steamed ahead to take gold.

Dixon finished in a time of 14:29:47, and Estwanik came in at 14:30:84 with a smile on his face to take silver, his second medal of the games. Lolo Hughes of Ynys Mons finished in third with a time of 14:32:14.

“I went for it with 100m to go,” said Dixon, running in only his second 5,000 metre race. “I’m ecstatic, it all went to plan.”

Bermudian Lamont Marshall rounded out the top five with a time of 15:15.02.

In basketball, Bermuda continued their gold medal defence with a 81-49 bludgeoning of Isle of Wight.

The win is all the more impressive considering Isle of Wight beat fellow Group A team the Faroe Islands 99-35 on Sunday.

“We’ve set our goal at retaining our gold medal for the fourth time running and I’d expect nothing less,” Steven Simons, the Bermuda captain, said. “We’re getting better with each game and really focusing on playing as one unit, a solid team.

“We have group games against Gotland and the Faroe Island remaining. We’ll fine tune some things before we likely face Saaremaa in the Final Friday.”

Bermuda take on Gotland this morning at 9am Bermuda time.

Archery

Bernard Wade finished a creditable seventh in the Single Fita Men’s Recurve archery event in his first Island Games appearance yesterday.

Wade had a score of 1148 in the competition, which was won by Borja Goñalons Meca, from Menorca, with a score of 1207. Savvas Kipouros, of Rhodes, took silver with 1190, and Absalon Hansen, from Faroe Islands, who also posted a score of 1190, took bronze on countback.

Wade’s Bermudian team-mate, Robert O’Connor, finished 31st with 957 and said he was feeling a lot more comfortable and relaxed then when he arrived.

“I have been practicing a lot,” he said. “Coming in 31st didn’t matter to me it was about the experience, I am enjoying my experience representing my country.”

The pair compete again today in the Men’s 720 Recurve and in the Men’s Recurve Head to Head Knockout tomorrow.

Badminton

Bermuda had a mixed day again in the team yesterday, beating Gibraltar 3-2 in their opening play-off match, before then losing 4-1 to Greenland in the 5th place play-off match.

Rowena Cespedes and Danial Hughes provided the lone bright point for Bermuda against Greenland, beating Nikki Nathansen and Aviaaja Geisler 21-18, 21-18 in the mixed doubles.

The team’s attention now turns to the singles and doubles competitions which begin today and tomorrow. Emma Calow, the fifth seed in the women’s competition, has a bye in the first round, while Michael Palmer, Denzel Simons and Mark Haugen begin their bid for individual glory tomorrow morning.

Before that, Haugen and Hughes play together in the men’s doubles, with a first-round match against Kesley Downer and George Utteridge of Isle of Wight.

Cycling

Sarah Bonnett, the Bermudian cyclist, finished just outside the podium in the women’s Mountain Bike Cross Country final.

Bonnett finished fourth out of 11 competitors in an impressive display on a race that was shortened by one lap because of the heat.

Charles Dunstan, the team manager, described the race as a battle for third, with Kerry Macphee and Kirsty Macphee of Western Isles always expected to take the top two spots.

“The 11 competitors charged to the first corner, with Bermuda’s Sarah Bonnett braking late and slotting into fourth place,” Dunstan said. “A tough first lap of spills and thrills saw her lose several positions before settling into seventh.

“The race was originally slated for eight laps, with average lap times around 12 minutes. On the hottest day of Jerseys summer, with a high near 80°, the Bermuda strategy was to ride steadily in the “heat” and let the others wilt. It’s always fun when a strategy actually works.

“With three laps to go, many of the competitors were feeling the heat, with beet red faces and water being dumped over heads constantly. Our girl was coolly and steadily gaining ground each lap, but at this point the Race Director shortened the race by a lap for “health and safety” reasons due to the heat. The strategy went into overdrive.

“Sarah picked off one rider to move into 6th on the 6th lap, then threw down her water back pack as she came through the feed area, gritted her teeth and drove past two more riders on the last lap. Ultimately falling short of a podium, but a massive victory in morale and confidence.”

She can ride with these women, and intends to prove it tomorrow in the MTB Criterium.”

Deshi Smith, meanwhile, competed in the men’s race and was hoping to implement a similar strategy to Bonnett, but crashed on the third lap when he hit a tree root and finished 31st.

Bermuda’s cyclists, led by Dominic Mayho, will be in action first thing tomorrow morning in the Road Race final.

Sailing

Bermuda started out their day strong in the water and laid some solid groundwork for the rest of the week.

After a fog delay, the sailing began with Hereward Peter Dill jumping to third place in the Laser Radial event after the first two races.

Two finishes in the middle of the pack dropped the Bermudian to 11th on the day with five races to go. Stephen O’Reilly is in 20th.

Kalin Hillier raced once today and finished fourth, maintaining his first place position in the Laser Standard event. David Hillier is in 17th.

The combined results have Bermuda sitting at fifth place in the overall team event with several days of sailing to go.

Beach Volleyball

Bermuda’s beach volleyball team had a mixed day, with the women suffering two defeats.

Gary LeBlanc and Eric Haller formed the men’s team that defeated the Faroe Islands in a tight 2-1 game, The men lost their first game 12-21 but rebounded to grab the final two sets: 21-18, 15-13.

Lisa LeBlanc and Rebecca White put up a fight against hosts Jersey, but lost 16-21, 21-13, 4-15 in front of a large crowd. The were later beaten by powerhouse Saaremaa 21-17, 21-14.

Volleyball

Bermuda’s indoor women’s volleyball team suffered a 3-1 defeat to Aland.

The team lost 20-25, 8-25, 25-23, 10-25.

Bermuda take on Isle of Man today at 3pm Bermuda time.

Windsurfing

Bermuda’s sailboarding team are sitting at fourth in the team event after the second day of sailing.

Individually, David Kendell sits in seventh, Scott Mello 14th, Matthew Wilken 15th, and Alexander Jones at 16th.

There are nine races left in the event.

Shooting

Bermuda’s shooters had a tough go yesterday, highlighted by a tenth place finish in the Sports Trap Team final.

Brian Mello and J. Andrew Pereira combined for the finish out of twelve total islands.

Nelson Chesterfield Simons is in 12th in the Fullbore Queens final.

Raymond Beaulne and Kevin Constable finished 16th in the Automatic Ball Trap Team final.

Tennis

Chris Weekes lost to Filip Engstrom in the singles round of 64.

Weekes was the only Bermudian in action, with Gavin Manders, David Thomas, and Jack Keyes awarded byes through to the round of 32 today.

Weekes went down 3-6, 5-7 to his opponent, from Gotland.

*Kelechi Jones contributed to this report