Athletics of To-Day 1929

~-~ ------ ~--- Relay Racing III 2 and 3 learn only to make the exchange from one particular hand. If the opposition is going to put their fastest man to run the first, say, 440 yards, the captain has to ask himself two ques– tions-(r) Have I a man who is as fast ? (2) If not, which of my own men is least likely to be discouraged by the lead the other fellow will establish, i.e., who is least likely to let the flyer get right away, and who is my best man to run the second leg? Of late years it has become almost a convention to allot the first leg to the second best man, put the slowest man second, the third best man third, and the fastest man last. This method undoubtedly gives the team its best balance and will certainly upset the opposition should they adopt the old method of running their men in the reverse order of merit, that is to say, worst man first and best man last. This discussion does not relate to Medley Relays, in which the order of running is virtually determined by the programme order of the dis– tances. In the final issue, success in relay racing is contingent largely upon the pace-judgment of the men and their ability to run at the best speed they know they can hold, whether they are leading or not. If a man is leading he should saf guard the interests of his team by still running true to the best of his form. If he is behind he must still run true to the best of his proven ability. If he tries to gain back the distance his team has lost by a too great burst of opening speed he will outpace hims lf and be "all-in" before two-thirds of his course is covered and thus will serve his side worse than if he had stuck to the pace he knew that he could keep up. Accurate baton passing without loss of time is as important as pace and the knowledge thereof. The baton may be passed anywhere within a twenty yards zone, and the object is to hand it over to the next man in such a way that neither man loses speed nor the team its accumulat d momentum. The outgoing runner needs judgm nt to determine in what part of the zone he should take over. If the incoming runner is pretty well foundered, the exchange should take place in the first ten yards