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The three baton exchanges of a 4×100 metre relay — the part races are won and lost on. Send the next runner away at the check mark, hand over inside the thirty-metre zone, and read how fast the incoming runner is coming, because a tired leg and a flying one need different timing. Every hundredth counts.
You are in charge of the three changeovers in a 4×100 metre relay. The runners run by themselves; your job is the two taps in each exchange. The shaded part of the track is the thirty-metre changeover zone, and the baton has to be handed over inside it. The blue line before the zone is the check mark.
Watch the incoming runner in orange. When they reach the check mark, tap GO and the next runner in blue sets off from the start of the zone, accelerating from standstill. The speed of the incoming runner is shown above the track and changes from leg to leg: a fast one needs you to go a touch before the mark, a slow one a touch after it.
Once the blue runner is off, the button changes to PASS. Tap it when the two runners are within arm's reach and the baton changes hands. If you tap while they are still too far apart, the outgoing hand misses and the incoming runner stumbles slightly, but you can tap again. If the incoming runner catches up and runs into the outgoing one, the pass is made automatically with a time penalty.
If you go too early the incoming runner never closes the gap, the baton does not make it through the zone and is dropped, which costs three seconds. Each exchange is timed from the moment the baton enters the zone until it leaves, and a clean, well-timed pass takes a little under two point eight seconds. Your score is the relay time over the whole four hundred metres, so lower is better.
The check mark is set for an average runner. Look at the incoming speed before each exchange: every tenth of a metre per second faster means the ideal moment to go comes a little before the mark, and a slower runner lets you wait until just after it. The difference between the fastest and slowest legs is more than a metre at the mark.
Going early is the fast option and the risky one. The quickest exchanges come from sending the outgoing runner as early as you dare, so that they are almost at full speed when the baton reaches them. The price is a narrow window for the pass near the end of the zone; go a fraction too early and the incoming runner never catches up at all, which costs far more than a slightly late start.
Do not reach too soon. A pass tapped while the runners are still apart makes the incoming runner stumble, which widens the gap you are trying to close. Wait until the two figures are nearly touching, then tap once. If you have gone late, pass quickly instead — a late start means the incoming runner is closing fast and a collision is coming.
Think of the three exchanges together. A clean, slightly safe pass costs a few hundredths; a dropped baton costs three whole seconds. A strong relay time comes from three good exchanges, not one perfect one and a disaster, so keep the risky early starts for when you have read the incoming speed clearly.