abroad next week when 16 members of the Bermuda Dragons Track Club compete in a meet in Needham, Massachusetts.

The Dragons have made five similar tours of North America in previous years but this will be their first to the Needham Youth Classic, which is a meet designed for athletes to experience all areas of track and field.

Team members will compete in both the heptathlon and decathlon along with most of the other popular sports, including the hurdles which has been a dying event in Bermuda for the last two years.

The team leaves on July 31 and returns on August 7. The touring party: Alon Jackson, Aaron Jackson, Keino Williams, Roy Richardson, Kondwani Williams, Deonna Hill, Andrea Jackson, Natricia Curtis, Tanisha Grant, Gina Iris, Shirika Baker, Mylinda Johnson, Gabriellie Butler, Kemar Curtis and Andrew Jackson.

Honours were bestowed on three members of the Bermuda Pacers Track Club when the team competed in the 22nd East Coast Invitational Meet at the Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.

Runner Jarita Dill was inducted into the silver medal Hall of Fame while coach Cal Simons was named as honourary referee for track and field events. Raneika Bean won the 13-14 girls outstanding athlete award after winning two gold medals and one bronze among the nine medals earned by the team.

Bean won a gold in the high jump with a personal best leap of five-feet-four-inches as well as the long jump where her leap of 17-feet, five-inches was also a personal best.

Another gold medal winner for Bermuda was Laytonya Dickinson, also in the 13-14 girls, who won the shotput with a throw of 37-feet, eight-and-a-half inches.

Silver medal winners were Patrina Swan in the 13-14 girls long jump where she had a leap of 16 feet, six inches and Jarita Dill in the 17-18 girls 800 metres with a personal best time of2:15.22.

Raneika Bean also picked up a bronze medal in the 13-14, 100 metres with a PB of 12.5, while Kristen Eve, in the 11-12 girls long jump, also won a bronze with her jump of 14 feet, 113 inches.

Other bronze medal winners were Kamel Hewey in the 13-14 boys long jump, with a PB of 18 feet, eight-and-a-half inches, and Janine Scott in the 13-14 girls 400 metres. She also had a personal best time of 59.30.

Plaques for fourth and fifth place finishes went to: Patrina Swan (a personal best time of 2:22.82 in the 13-14, 800 metres); Dill (400 metres in 57.4); Scott (200 metres in 26.2) and Nasir Wade (800 metres for 13-14 boys. His time of 2:08.06 was a personal best); Antonio Lowe (long jump), Latisha Perinchief (100 metres) and Tariq Hewey (long jump).

RARING FOR ACTION -- Kondwani Williams (left) and Kemar Curtis sharpen their hurdling skills in preparation for the Bermuda Dragons appearance in the Needham Youth meet in Massachusetts next week.