Athletics of To-Day for Women

CHAPTE TWELVE ELAY RACING No sports meeting of to-day is complete without its Relay event. The t am spirit is een at its b t in thi kind of com– petition. There is the knowledge that the real fliers may be handicapp d by a' ak r m mb r of their team, while the girl who is not quite in the first class of runners may yet achieve championship honours through h r associati n in the team with other girls who are real top-notch rs. Th n there is a sustained thrill from start to finish, uch as is not xperienced in an individual race, in\ hich the champion p rhaps stands out in a cla s of her own. In a lay ac the fortunes of the teams ar ever v rying, and n th fin t combination of runners may be broken up by a bad baton e.·chang . lay racing affords opportunity to th many, especially in th v ry popular r,ooo yar lay, in \ hi h ach of ten girl sprinters runs roo y rd . r ord long r mained in British hands, but th pr ent laur ls r st ' ith ermany. In lay acing ach girl carri a baton, which he mu t pass n to th next u c ding m mber f h r t am, and the girl running the la t r 1 y must pass the post with th baton in her possession. The fir t girl starts from th orthodox crouch– ing position, as d rib d in th eh pt r n printing ( hapt r Nine), and run th stag of the r lay allotted to h r. Th n xt girl wait at th st rting lin for her particular r lay i - t nee. A lin i rav n t n y rd on ith r id of th tarting lin , and b tw n the tw out r lin s ach runn r must pa s the baton to the succeeding runn r. If h does not do so her t am will be disqualifi d. That is to say, pac of twenty yards is allowed for the xchange of the b ton from the incoming 172