Relay race is a borrowed word that came from the French language. Initially, this term denoted a special parcel of a messenger (courier) with an urgent message, later - horse mail. That is, they transmitted something from a distance, and did it as quickly as possible.
The essence of the relay
Later in sports, this “something” became a baton if competitions were held in stadiums. In some other types of relay races passed ekiden, or ribbon. The essence of these
team games is to be the first to get to the finish line. An indispensable condition is either to transfer something from hand to hand to the next participant, or to touch something - the pool side or just an athlete. Relays include various sports - biathlon and orienteering, speed skating and swimming. And, of course, the athletics relay. In addition, the term itself is used to refer to socio-political and sports amateur events. Relays of various types enjoy popular love, they are spectacular and popular. Therefore, their individual types were phased in to the program of the Olympic Games: 1900 - swimming, 1908 - athletics in general and the athletics relay race in particular. In 1936, skiing was introduced.
Athletic Relay Levels
In addition to the Olympic Games, all sports competitions are divided according to their importance - championships, cup competitions and championships. They have one task - to identify the winner and record its result. They are held annually or once every two years. There are levels of competition - the highest, first, second and third. In addition, there are basic, qualifying, classification, bit, qualifying and several other levels of competition. There are separate or species competitions dedicated to some event or date - Victory Day, Runner's Day and so on.
Relay Basic Document
The athletics relay race, along with mass or festive races, is carried out very often. She is satisfied with schools, institutes and enterprises. Carrying out sporting events of this type is based on the general “Regulations on the athletics relay race”, which is the main law of the competition. It is also guided by the panel of judges. Since the relay races are often held, and some of them have a specific connotation, an individual provision on conducting is adopted for each of them, which is amended, supplemented and amended by the organizers of the event with representatives of the teams and the main panel of judges. This is done so that the athletics relay race is legitimate, and its results (records, if any) are recorded. If the competition is serious, everything is done according to the regulations on this athletics relay.
Initial documents are sent to the authorities taking into account the time required to prepare the teams. The developed position provides for everything, even any trifle - goals and objectives, place and time, leadership and participants, teams and awards, the competition program and so on. There should not be any double meaning in the text of the provision.
City relay - what is it?
The city athletics relay race has its own characteristics. For example, it is held on the streets of the city with all the ensuing consequences - a stop of transport, etc., like the Olympic torch relay, or only city dwellers will participate in this sporting event, and the races will be held in stadiums.
The traditional athletics relay race is divided into several types. These include:
a) sprint distances;
b) at medium distances;
c) Swedish or mixed;
d) ekiden.
How do they differ?
Types of athletics relay
Sprinters have their own subspecies - the number of participants is always 4, and the distances are different - 100, 200 and 400 meters for each athlete. There are summer and winter sprint races, male and female, held at the stadium and indoors. All of them are specified in international documents. Sprint distances - this is the kind of athletics relay race included in the program of the Summer Olympic Games, for men since 1912, and for women since 1972. Much less often, but with the fixation of world records, athletics relay races are held at medium distances - 4x800 and 4x1600 meters.
Mixed relay races are called so because they have different distances, for example, 200 + 100 + 100 + 400. This relay race got the additional name “Swedish” because it was held for a long time in Stockholm at the stage of the Grand Prix series. Running along the highway for long (marathon or similar) distances, which are divided into sections from 3 to 12 kilometers long, is called ekiden.
During the relay race, athletes must not leave the corridor allocated to them or use any tricks. For this, any of them may be disqualified. If the participant loses his wand, he can pick it up and run on, this will only affect time.
The baton is always standard - length 30 cm, weight 50 grams.