Bermuda’s strategy of top-loading was a bold one that did not pay off at the IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday, but the four-man team could be proud of their seventh-placed finish.

The 4 x 800 metres race was won in fabulous front-running fashion by Kenya in 7min 8.40sec, with Bermuda trailing behind in 7:21.87 after starting so promisingly.

Shaquille Dill had Bermuda in third place after the first leg, run in 1:48.40, which, from a standing start, earmarked him as the Island’s leading runner over the distance.

Aaron Evans was not that far off Dill’s pace and, from a running start, clocked 1:48.20 during which he took over second behind the Kenyans before slipping back to third at the time of the second handover, to Lamont Marshall.

It was from here that Bermuda’s fortunes went dramatically south, most significantly because Poland, the eventual runners-up, would be on the move to make up five places from seventh.

As the Poles climbed the ladder, so, too, did Bermuda drop, with Marshall’s 1:51.90 relegating Bermuda to seventh, as Mexico, Spain and Australia also went by.

Trey Simons took off like a flash on the final leg and went past Spain in the first 400 before running out of puff in the home straight to finish in 1:53.37.

United States finished third, Australia fourth, Spain fifth and Mexico sixth.

The Slovak Republic were behind Bermuda from the outset to finish in eighth, while Uganda were cut adrift almost from the start in finishing last of the nations entered.

Donna Watson, the president of the Bermuda National Athletics Association who is in Nassau, was impressed with the performance of the only representative from the Caribbean region.

“Bermuda, you tore up the 4 x 800,” she posted on her Facebook page yesterday. “A job well done guys. You looked good.”