Members of the men’s 4x100 metres relay team have spoken with pride about recording Bermuda’s second-fastest time of 40.29sec in winning bronze at the Barbados Grand Prix on Saturday.

Norre Robinson, Miles Outerbridge, Cameron Basden and Denver Tucker finished behind the two Barbados teams at the meet, but lowered the 40.41 run by Tucker, Outerbridge, Robinson and Suresh Black at the same event a year ago.

Robinson, who ran the first leg, was pleased with their strategy as they moved closer to the national record of 39.75 set by Mike Sharpe, Dennis Trott, Cal Dill and Gregory Simons at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

“The team performed very well and executed our race model,” Robinson told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m especially happy about the baton pass between Miles and myself because we had never gotten our passes right in practice. We even messed up every pass the day before and it wasn’t until the actual race where we had a perfect baton exchange.

“Breaking the record now all comes down to patience or possibly even changing the order of the relay to better fit our individual strengths and weaknesses.”

Outerbridge, who ran the second leg, was pleased with the progress made from last year.

“I felt good about the team’s performance,” the 18-year-old said.

“We definitely showed improvement and I was glad to see the second-fastest time. As for the record, we have all the pieces to get it done. We just need to experiment with our order and gain more chemistry with each other.”

Basden was tasked with negotiating the bend in the third leg of the relay, with the Barry University student enthusiastic about the quartet’s future prospects.

“We had a great showing,” he said.

“All four of us performed extremely well and truly believe that this will be a great stepping stone for the bigger meets that we are aiming for in the next few years.

“Our goal this trip was to put a great showing on the track, and we accomplished that.”

Basden, who spent a few hours on island before heading out with the national basketball team to Guyana, was representing Bermuda for the first time in a track meet.

“It was a great honour,” the 20-year-old said. “I felt a lot of pride representing Bermuda on the track for the first time and the four of us make each other better every day.”

Tucker anchored the relay and managed to maintain the gap achieved by Basden.

“It was definitely not a shock as we knew what we needed to do and we did everything we needed to,” he said.

“We were a little nervous about the baton exchange but we managed to get it done. We trusted in each other and were a lot better than last year.

“It will take more chemistry and training for us to break the record but it takes a lot of time to build the chemistry and get the baton exchange right.”

For coach DeVon Bean, the young team is on course to achieve big things in future.

“Running Bermuda’s second-fastest time in history shows that we’re definitely headed in the right direction,” he said.

“We improved by 0.12 seconds from our time last year, which is a great achievement.

“These young men gelled together. Even though they didn’t grow up as friends, they’ve come together for one common cause, trying to break this national record, which has stood for over 40 years.

“We’re trying to garner some points and some experience so we can get invited to the World Relays next year. After that, LA 2028 is right around the corner, so we could possibly see a Bermuda men’s 4x100 there.

“This time would have qualified us for the Commonwealth Games, but as the young men are at different institutions overseas, it was difficult for us to come together early in the year.”

Bean spoke of the challenges they faced in the days leading up to racing in Barbados.

“Our main emphasis, just like any relay, is to get the baton safely around the track, which we did,” he said.

“Going into the competition, the boys hadn't practised much together as a unit. Prior to leaving, we were having some difficulties getting the stick and receiving the stick to one another, particularly between Norre Robinson and Miles Outerbridge.

“Even the day before, we didn’t complete a pass to each other. Miles was nervous, he wasn’t getting out and Norre just couldn’t get the baton to him, so we moved on to Cameron and Miles, and that relay exchange was a bit difficult as well.

“The atmosphere of the meet started to get to the boys, which caused extra nervousness. The day before the race it looked shaky, but we said a prayer on the day of the meet and we got it right.”

According to Bean, there is strong competition for spots in the team, with Black also looking to bounce back.

“We have Suresh Black but he was unavailable this year due to his studies,” the coach added.

“Then we also have some other youngsters coming along that could possibly help the team as well.”