I need to get relay splits in the 4x400 to determine who will run on the varsity squad. It is a high school race, so the lead off runner runs in his lane the entire time and the second runner cuts in on the backstretch. (I don't know if that is how it is done in college or whatever, I was just being specific.)
The way I currently do it is to time the baton and just hit split whenever the baton passes the start line. I don't do it on the handoff. Is that the best way?
Guessing that is the only way to be consistent about it.
Yes
I forgot to ask. I guess what I am confused about is the first leg. The second leg runners line up on a stagger, so do I hit split when the first leg crosses the finish line even if he is way far from handing off? Is that 400 meters?
no, that's not 400m. you have to do it from the middle of the exchange zone
It's a three-turn stagger. To take split for the first leg, you split it at the white line, or in other words, half way between the two large blue triangle.
To get an accurate split for the first 400m where a three-turn stagger is used, you should take the split when the baton crosses the 800m start line in whichever lane your team is running in (that will be in the middle of the exchange zone, or between the two blue triangles, as others have said). Each subsequent split should be taken when the baton crosses the actual finish line.
That works for me. It makes sense now that I have thought about it. Thanks.
relay splits wrote:
To get an accurate split for the first 400m where a three-turn stagger is used, you should take the split when the baton crosses the 800m start line in whichever lane your team is running in (that will be in the middle of the exchange zone, or between the two blue triangles, as others have said). Each subsequent split should be taken when the baton crosses the actual finish line.
This guy is right.
He's right,but if you're trying to compare the runner's within your relay, you might make an adjustment indicating that the 1st runner began from a dead stop and the others have a running start...depending upon the level at which you compete (MS, HS, small college, D-I, world class, etc, you'll have to reduce the lead split by a few tenths in order to compare his/her time to runners that get the baton on the move...how much would depend on how fast the lead runner accelerates, and at what speed the subsequent runners take the baton...
Carter's is right. If everyone was of equal ability and ran the same time, the first leg would be slow since they started from a dead stop. I don't know what the conversion is, but it probably is somewhere close to 0.5-1.0 seconds????
fyi
not all tracks use triangles to designate the start and finish of relay zones.
International tracks including some here in the US use a line with a shorter diagnol line at the end.
GPS splits wrote:
I'm sure there's a way to set up their Garmins to measure the time it takes them to run exactly 400m.
They would find out the 4x400 was actually 1608m and would come on here and tell us how their track wasn't measured correctly.
Aren't you suppose to split when the baton is passed. you want time the baton as it is passed, not crossing a line.
Mrs. Obvious wrote:
Aren't you suppose to split when the baton is passed. you want time the baton as it is passed, not crossing a line.
No. Relay splits are never completely accurate but what you are trying to measure is how fast each runner ran exactly 400m. If you measure by handoff then you have legs of varying lenghts. If you measure by the time the baton crosses the line then you have legs that are the same distance. This is an approximation of how fast each runner ran even if they did not handoff after exactly 400m.
Mrs. Obvious wrote:
Aren't you suppose to split when the baton is passed. you want time the baton as it is passed, not crossing a line.
only if you want to screw up your kids' splits...
The problem arises when attempting to determine how many tenths it takes for subsequent runners to acquire the speed at which they take the hand off. Very few runners get the hand off at their highest running speed since the incoming runner is pretty gassed, at least your average high school kid is...I'm thinking .5 sec is on the high side and .2 tenths on the low. An old coach of mine told me he just split the 1st runner at the finish line (ignoring the third stagger), with his logic being that although this was not a legitimate 400m, it cancelled out the difference between the 0 mph start and the running start for the others...I'm not sure, but I believe a one turn stagger is about 5 yards, so for a fast person, this would be about .5 sec.
Do it the old fashioned way, with a 400 meter time trial.
Simple answer....when the baton crosses the middle of the exchange zone.
I have observed some high school meets running the 4 x 400 off of a 2 turn stagger....with 8 teams! I feel sorry for the teams in the outside lanes.