Young athletes, their teachers and their families spent Friday night under the lights at the Flora Duffy Stadium.

The seventeenth Schools Relay Classic brought together hundreds of people to watch some of Bermuda’s brightest talents blitz their way around the track while racing for their schools.

Warwick Academy, Saltus Grammar and Berkeley Institute took home top honours in the primary, middle and senior schools respectively at an event that fosters teamwork and co-operation.

The first final of the night was the Primary School girls 4x400 metres relay, whuch was won by the Saltus quartet of Zoe Coward-Talbot, Julia Cunningham, Nea Maughan and Naomi Nusum, who crossed the line in 5min 02.27sec, beating Warwick Academy (5:05.80) and Elliot Primary (5:23.23) into second and third.

Warwick Academy reversed places with Saltus in he 4x400 primary school boys race in a close race in which Warwick’s Shammaah Darko ran a fine anchor leg after good work by Raymond Weeks, Levi Miller and Carter Archibald. Their winning time was 4:49.70, less than a second ahead of Saltus (4:50.60), with Port Royal third (5:02.46).

Jasmine-Reid Rubaine, Zahra Goodchild, Dani Eve and Sukanya Jobson brought the middle school girls 4x400 win home for Saltus in 4:25.19. They beat BHS (4:30.30) and Warwick (4:33.39)

Whitney Institute won their first race of the night in the middle school boys 4x400, with A’daj O’Brien, Mosiah Smith, Rami Furbert and Keni Hall combining to break the four-minute mark in 3:59.13. Saltus (4:01.31) and Warwick (4:09.58) finished second and third.

The Berkeley Institute dominated the senior school 4x400 metres relays with Kelise Wade, Azari Jones, Hannah Dill and Lashee Jones (4:15.30) running out the most impressive winners on the night, with a 15-second margin over Berkeley’s second team (4:30.94) Saltus were third in 4:33.77

Berkeley doubled up in the senior school boys event, with Demontai Bailey, Joshua Watson, Sinai Simons and Amir Weller beating Saltus and Berkeley’s other team into second and third respectively.

Port Royal stole the show in the 4x100 Primary School boys race with Jacob Butterfield, Roman Bather, Ethan Anderson and Ashlee Clay Jr coming home in 58.56sec. West End Primary (59.34) and Saltus (1:00.17) were second and third.

The only Relay Classic record broken on the night came in the middle school girls 4x100 with Saltus’s Leydi Raynor, Amaya Davis, Zahra Goodchild and Jasmine Reid-Rubaine stopping the clock at 51.50. The Whitney Institute finished second and third in 53.97 and 55.79

Saltus dominated the middle school sprints with Kobe Dean, Ajani Trott, Vashon Martin and Asa Trew-Smith dipping under 50 seconds for victory (49.65). They got the better of a tight finish with Whitney Institute (49.76). Somersfield Academy 52.60 was third.

There was drama in the senior school girls event after The Berkeley Institute, who were first to cross the line, were disqualified following a problem at the first exchange.

That meant Mya Simmons-Trott, Marley Tucker, Caillia Joell and Amara Samuels tasted glory for BHS in the senior school girls division, finishing in 52.20 ahead of Saltus (53.13) and CedarBridge Academy (53.63).

Berkeley took home the final race of the night with Demontai Bailey, Hurven-Jay Burgess, Aaron Lugo and Sinai Simons stopping the clock in 44.47 ahead of Berkeley’s other team (46.10) and the Home School team in third (47.00).

The event was sponsored for the first time by Somerset Reinsurance, who had a number of their staff volunteering at the event and chief executive officer Danish Iqbal was delighted to be associated with the event.

“We wanted to do something for the community and this was the perfect opportunity for us to help out,” Iqbal said.

“We are just doing whatever we can to help Bermuda and the community out. It’s a great event and it’s been a great evening. We appreciate everyone who has helped put this together and all those participating.”