As around 100 overseas competitors enjoyed a pre-event cocktail party, a few steps away in another room students of Berkeley Institute packed 1,020 race packs ready to be handed out the following day. It took them around an hour and a half to complete the task, watched over by Wanda and Tyaunna Armstrong, who are sisters of Bermuda running ace Terrance Armstrong.

Wanda said: "The students do it as part of their community service. They form an assembly line to put the various items into the packs and then count the bags as we go along."

The Armstrong sisters perform their important supervisory role every year on the eve of International Race Weekend.