Harrington Sound Primary, Dellwood Middle School and CedarBridge Academy will rest their titles on the line when the popular Bermuda Pacers Track Club Schools Relay Classic takes centre stage at Flora Duffy Stadium on Friday night (5.30pm).

The trio are among 22 schools taking part in the event, which will see student athletes compete in the 4x100 and 4x400 metre relay events for bragging rights and a share of the $4,000 in prize money to go towards their athletic programme.

“Because we have so many schools it should be a very exciting night,” Cal Simons, the meet director, told The Royal Gazette.

“Most people like relays and we're hoping that people will come out and support the club.

“This event for us is a fundraiser so we just want a nice healthy crowd and people to come up there and support the children running for their particular schools.”

The winning school in each category will receive $500, with $300 being awarded for second, $200 for third and $100 for fourth.

This year’s event could also potentially feature men’s, women’s or mixed football teams competing in the 4x100 metre relay during the special events segment of the programme.

“As we have a special event, we have sent out an invitation to the footballers from the Bermuda Football Association, so hopefully we get some response from that,” Simons added.

“We are hoping to get four or five football teams and that can be male or female, so we can pop in a little special event in there.”

The special events segment will also feature some of the island’s Special Olympians who will compete in the 100 metres.

“We are going to have couple of Special Olympians doing 100 metres and some of them actually ran in the event at the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday,” Simons said.

The long serving coach is grateful for the continued support of event Title Sponsor, AIG.

“We are again fortunate to have AIG who are there again this year as our major sponsor and have been for the last five years,” Simons said.

This year’s track meet has been brought forward a month and now serves as an ideal warm-up for the upcoming Bermuda School Sports Federation Championships.

“We brought it forward because we knew that in March the BSSF have their championships but we found out afterwards they changed the date,” Simons explained.

“So in actual fact the track and field championships for the BSSF will take place this week and some of them maybe next week. This event will be like a warm up for schools getting ready for Inter School Sports.”

Meanwhile, Simons also confirmed that the club will host the rescheduled Clevonte Lodge Bean Sprint Classic at Flora Duffy Stadium on Sunday, starting at noon.

The event, featuring athletes aged 3 to 19 competing over various distances was originally scheduled to take place on April 13 but was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Boys and girls aged 3 to 4 will compete in either a 25 or 50 metre race, with those aged 5 to 6 racing over 50 and 75 metres and aspiring athletes aged 7 to 19 doing battle over 100, 200 and 400 metres.

A special 400-metre race will also be held in honour of sprinter Lodge Bean, who died in November 2022.

Predominantly a 200 and 400 metres runner, the promising athlete represented the island at the Carifta Games, USATA Junior National Championships and the Junior Olympics.

He was a member of the Bermuda Pacers for ten years, during which time he made several appearances for the club at the Russell E Blunt Eastcoast Invitational Track Meet in the United States, winning many age-group honours at the event.

“The club is really excited to host this event on behalf of Clevonte Lodge Bean and his family,” Simons said.

“He was a Pacers athlete through and through and we are just hoping that parents, PE teachers and everybody will support the event.

“It should be a fun event so come out and just watch the athletes have a good time.”