Bernie Butler Swim Meet Held in Grand Bahama

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GRAND BAHAMA, BAHAMAS – Stacey McBride, coordinator of the meet, talked about the work her father, former Bahamas Swim Federation vice president, the late John Bradley, did to make the Bernie Butler Meet one of the biggest in the nation.

The 5K portion of the meet now bears his name.

Robbie Butler, son of Bernie Butler, was also on hand. He swam in every race from when he was 12 until he was 62 before taking a break. He didn’t race in this one, but he was there to lend his support. He recalls the meet’s history:

Swimmers of all ages and skill levels were out to test their endurance across the divisions.

According to Bahamas Aquatics President Algernon Cargill, the meet was too important to miss.

As far as the results went, 8-year-old Roshai Rolle took the girls’ 1/2K. 7-year-old Jaylen Moss, the meet’s youngest swimmer, swam solo in the boys’ 1/2K.

In the Bert Bell 1K race, 11-year-old Semara Rolle swam solo in the girls U-20. Trevanti Saunders won the U-20 boys 1K, and Luc Olsthoorn took the boys 21 and over.

Gillian Albury took the U-20 girls Bert Bell 5K race, and Edwin Burrows won on the boys’ side.

And Kaylen Cabral won the overall female. McBride came second, and John Silvera won the overall male.

Team Bahamas is off to a strong start in the early runnings at the 2026 Goodwill Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

At closing time yesterday, the Bahamas had a solid lead with 460 points, followed by the host nation, Trinidad and Tobago, with 391 points, and Jamaica was in third with 327.

The boys and girls from the 242 are going to have a rough time going through security when they come back because of all that hardware, including medalling in seven of the eight relays, with two gold medals and five silver medals.

Nya Ferguson also broke a record for the Games, finishing the U-8 girls 100-meter individual medley in a time of 1:22.58.