Zydon Lightbourne-Furbert won two gold medals and set a meet record during a phenomenal debut at the prestigious Russell E Blunt East Coast Invitational in North Carolina last weekend.

The Bermuda Pacers Track Club athlete ran 49.54sec in the final of the 400 metres, eclipsing the previous mark of 50.45 that had stood since 2005.

Lightbourne-Furbert’s time of 22.57 in the 200 placed him in the top ten performances for the event alongside Bermuda Pacers athlete Miles Outerbridge, who made his mark in 2022.

These performances led to the Bermuda School Sport Federation Track and Field Champion Lightbourne-Furbert being selected as the Outstanding Male Athlete in the 13-14 boys division.

In all, the 22-strong Bermuda Pacers contingent came away from the championship with an impressive 16 medals, made up of five golds, five silvers and six bronze.

Aalirah Daniels earned three medals and achieved two personal-best times in the 9-10 girls division.

Daniels won gold in the 200 in a personal best time of 27.88, which placed her in the top five for all 200 metres runners in her age group. She also won silver in long jump with a leap of 3.93 metres and bronze in the 100 metres witha PB of 13.93.

Also claiming gold was Azari Jones in the 15-16 girls 1,500 metres and Bermuda Pacers’ 11-12 girls 4 x 100 relay team of Ava St Luce, Amaya Davis, Alae Rochester and Leydi Raynor.

It is the second time that the local club’s 11-12 girls relay team has won a gold medal at an international track meet.

Riana Robinson won a pair of silver medals in the 13-14 girls 3,000 and 1,500 metres, while Giselle Reid-Rubaine in the 8 and under girls long jump andTheodore Smith in the 8 and under boys long jump also finished runners-up. The 13-14 girls 4 x 400 metres relay team of Riana Robinson, Zakhya Scott, Leilani Peters and Zyari Lawrence also won silver.

Giselle Reid-Rubaine also won bronze in the 8 and under girls 100 as did Jasmine Reid-Rubaine in the 11-12 girls 400 and Sukanya Jobson in the long jump. Paz Lightbourne-Francis finished third the 11-12 boys long jump as did Nazir Johson in the 13-14 boys 800.

Bermuda Pacers coach Cal Simons was thrilled to see his athletes live up to high expectations.

“The club coaches were extremely pleased by the performances of all the athletes and were not surprised by their results,” he said.

“The level of the competition brought out the best in all the athletes as many of them had personal best performances.”

Simons was also impressed by the outstanding performances of the 11 athletes making their debut at the event, which included Lightbourne-Furbert.

“They handled themselves very well and were not overwhelmed by the size of the event,” he added.

The Russell E Blunt East Coast Invitational featured 1,000 athletes from across the United States, Canada and Caribbean and took place at the Durham County Memorial Stadium from Friday to Sunday.