Women's 4x400m relay- 1978 Nassau
The first women's 4x400 meters (m) relay was run at the 1978 CARIFTA Games. The team, comprised of Debbie Greene, Monique Millar, Eunice Greene and MaryAnn Higgs, ran 3:59.52.

1978 Xalapa, Mexico
That summer at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Xalapa, Mexico, the same women ran 3:57.74 for a new national record.

1979 Kingston
At the CARIFTA Games in Kingston in 1979, the Bahamian women set a new national record. The team of Stephanie Farrington, Debbie Greene, Oralee Fowler and MaryAnn Higgs ran 3:41.79.

1994 Bridgetown
At the CARIFTA Games in Barbados, a 15-year-old record was smashed by a team of Ingrid Sears, Vernetta Rolle, Tonique Williams and Debbie Ferguson. They clocked 3:36.53.

2009 Philadelphia
Another 15 years after the Barbados CARIFTA performance, a veteran Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie was a member of the team that smashed that record, running 3:29.55 at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on April 25, 2009. The other members of the team were Christine Amertil, Sasha Rolle and Shakeitha Henfield.

Three years earlier at the Moscow World Indoor Championships, Amertil won a bronze medal in the 400m, clocking 50.34 seconds, a NACAC record that still stands. Amertil, the only Bahamian who holds a NACAC record at the moment, ran on the 2009 Berlin World Championships silver medal 400m relay team as well as in last year's world relays.

Men's 4x400m relay
1978 Medellin, Colombia
A team made up of sprinters Rudy Levarity and Rickey Moxey, jumper Steve Hanna and quarter-miler Andre Newbold set a new Bahamian national record of 3:10.52 in the qualifying round of the 4x400m relay at the Medellin CAC Games. Michael Armbrister and Chris Clarke replaced Newbold and Levarity in the final. The team placed sixth with a 3:12.92 clocking.

1983 Havana
The Bahamas made a big jump in this event when the team of quarter-miler Allan Ingraham, 400m hurdlers David Charlton and Greg Rolle, and long jumper Joey Wells placed second in the 4x400m relay with a new national record of 3:07.06 at the CAC Senior Championships in Havana, Cuba. At the inaugural International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Championships in Helsinki in August of that year, Wells was the youngest male athlete to participate in the long jump. He remains the youngest ever to participate in this event at the world championships. The next year at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Wells, suffering an ankle bruise, finished in sixth place with only one jump.

1995 Havana
A Bahamas Tigers Club team participated in the Barrientos Memorial in Havana and clocked 3:04.77 for a new national record. The members were Tim Munnings, Carl Oliver, Dennis Darling and Troy McIntosh.

1995 Gothenburg, Sweden
This was the very first time that The Bahamas was participating in this event on the world level. At Helsinki in 1983, a team was registered but due to the injury of Allan Ingraham, it was unable to participate. In Gothenburg, the team of Troy McIntosh (46.1 seconds), Dennis Darling (45.6 seconds), Timothy Munnings (45.65 seconds) and Carl Oliver (45.65 seconds) ran a new national record of 3:02.85 for sixth in the semi-final.

1996 Atlanta
With a little bit of luck, The Bahamas' team made it to the Olympic final in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (USA). The team ran 3:02.17 for fifth place in the semi-final, setting a new national record. The team should not have advanced to the final but Nigeria was disqualified and The Bahamas had the next best time. In the final, with the same team as in the Gothenburg World Championships, The Bahamas finished in seventh place with a 3:02.71 clocking. McIntosh ran the second leg and had a 44.90 seconds spit.

1999 Seville, Spain
The Bahamas fielded a team for the Seville World Championships. The team of Timothy Munnings (46.5 seconds), Troy McIntosh (45.6 seconds), Carl Oliver (46.01 seconds) and Chris Brown (44.64 seconds) finished in seventh place in 3:02.74. This same team ran a new national record of 3:01.7 in the semi-finals. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion Avard Moncur had to return to Auburn prior to these championships.

2000 Sydney
This relay team had matured in the sense of their solid individual performances. A great addition was new 400m national record holder Avard Moncur. Lining up in the Olympic heats in Sydney, Australia, Tim Munnings, Troy McIntosh, Carl Oliver and Chris Brown ran 3:01.5. Avard Moncur, who had repeated as NCAA Champion, replaced Tim Munnings and the team ran a new national record of 2:59.02. The final was blazing. Moncur started with a 44.65 seconds split.

McIntosh, the former national record holder, "dropped it hot" with a 44.23 seconds second leg. Carl Oliver ran the third leg, handing off to Chris Brown. Brown was in second place and attempted to run down world record holder in the 200m and 400m Michael Johnson of the USA. The American speedster had a comfortable lead. Brown was definitely brave but went out too fast and died on the home stretch, finishing fourth in a time of 2:59.23. Years later, the USA was disqualified due to doping issues and The Bahamas was upgraded to the bronze.

2005 Helsinki, Finland
This venue of the inaugural world championships held the championships a second time. The Bahamas' 4x400m relay team did extremely well with a silver medal and a new national record of 2:57.32. The team consisted of Nathaniel McKinney who ran the first leg in 44.9 seconds, Avard Moncur, who ran the second leg in 44.8 seconds, a new find Andrae Williams who ran the third leg in 44.43 seconds and Chris Brown who anchored with a sizzling 43.42 seconds, the fastest split in the championships.

Upon The Legs
The world remembers the defeat of the mighty USA at the 2012 London Olympic Games by the Golden Knights, who coincidentally set another national record of 2:56.72, and the defeat of the mighty USA at the Seville World Championships and the 2000 Olympic Games by the Golden Girls. The Golden Knights consisted of Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller, in that order. Let's give these athletes who laid a significant path their due. The current athletes, coaches and Bahamians in general need to know from whence we came in these events.

Thoughts of the 2015 World Relays and World Championships

The Bahamas has won the women's 400m relay in both the IAAF World Outdoor Championships and the Olympic Games. For the men, they have captured the IAAF World Outdoor Championships and Olympic Games 4x400m relay crowns. The goals for this year should be to make it to the final of the Beijing World Championships in the men's 400m relay, and for 2017, the final of the women's 4x400m relay by the London World Championships. We could not have gotten to where we are now without dreaming and planning. Let's have a go at it!

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