Athletics of To-Day 1929

. Relay Racing 113 able to grasp the baton by the lower end and thus have it rightly disposed to pass on to the next man. In No. 2, Plate I4, Leigh-Wood (7) has used this method and is going straight ahead, whereas Ray Barbutti, U.S.A. (3) is making a cross– body transfer which is throwing him right off the track to his left. The :final relay will be well advised to retain the baton in his right hand, for then he lessens the risk of dropping it, but it is surprising how many men transfer it to the left hand through sheer force of habit. The man who hands on the baton is responsible for effecting a good transfer. He should not poke the baton at the receiver, but swing it cleanly into his hand with a downward movement from his last upward arm swing and should, therefore, strive to make the exchange on the left leg stride. FIG. 9· As the waiting relay cannot, for obvious reasons, use the crouch start position, all members of the team should be given considerable training in the old-fashioned standing start action. The man to run the first leg can and of course will use the crouch start, and so must make up his mind how he is going to hold the baton when his hands are on the scratch line in the " On the Mark" and'' Get Set" positions (see os. I, 2 and 3, Plate 5, Chapter II, and Fig. 2, page SI for normal finger spread tripod position). It is assumed that he will start with the baton in the left hand, to avoid the risk of passing it from one hand to the other. Sketches I, 2 and 3 in Fig. 9 show three methods of grasping the baton in the starting position. No. I shows a good position, from the runner's point of view, because it allows th fingers and thumb to make contact with the ground, as in the standard tripod spread, but length of fingers is needed; otherwise the baton will not be retained