Relay team win gold, break records

Bermuda has much to be proud of with how the swim team performed at these NatWest Island Games.

The team collected 16 total medals over the course of the competition, with only the athletics team doing better.

Thursday night's pool performance saw Bermuda win another five medals, including gold in the women's 4x100 medley relay.

The team of Ashley Yearwood, Rebecca Heyliger, Lisa Blackburn and Rebecca Sharpe broke both the Games record and the national record with a time of 4:19.22.

Yearwood, added two more individual medals and another relay medal to her impressive haul of 10 - the most of any Bermudian athlete.

Lisa Blackburn added another bronze and the mixed 8x50 relay team won silver.

Richard Godwin, men’s national swim coach, said Bermuda’s performance at these Games has “been fantastic”.

“This has been the best medal haul we’ve ever had at this set of games. This has been exceptional the entire week. I’m really, really happy, very proud and very pleased with everyone’s performances.

“Being at home counts for a lot. The home crowd, the home support, the home turf has been a huge advantage, but I also think they enjoy swimming in front of people. “This is the first real set of games we’ve ever hosted in Bermuda and the first significant swimming event in this pool."

Yearwood won more medals at these games than any other competitor for Bermuda. She told the Bermuda Sun “I did pretty well this week. My goal was to go out and get PBs and I did that. I also got medals, which I wasn’t expecting — I couldn’t be happier with my performance.”

She said being able to perform in front of the home crowd was “new and exciting. It felt great having everyone here. People I didn’t even know were cheering for me.”