In a high school meet today, my team was DQ'ed from the 4x800m relay, and I've never heard of the violation before. The official told us that our runner, before receiving the baton for the 3rd leg, stepped out of the exchange zone. He then reentered the exchange zone, they exchanged the baton in the zone, and we went on running. To be clear, he didn't overrun the exchange zone, he stepped out while stepping towards the incoming runner.
Is this actually illegal? If so, what rule is the under?
NFHS Rules
Section 10 Article 10
In relay races where acceleration zones are not permitted, each outgoing competitor, while waiting for the baton, shall take a position entirely within the passing zone and must complete the exchange while the baton is within the 20 meter exchange zone.
Amazing how many high school and even college track athletes don't know about this basic rule. On a side note i see at almost every college or high school track meet an athlete with their toes touching or over the starting line on stand up starts. Keep your toes 6 inches minimum back of the line.
My most up-to-date NFHS Rules Book is 2013 but I don't think much has changed.
Rule 5, Section 10, Article 10 states:
"In relay races where acceleration zones are not permitted, each outgoing competitor, while waiting for the baton, shall take a position entirely within the passing zone and must complete the exchange while the baton is within the 20-meter exchange zone."
Boldface added by me
From the 2013 NFHS Case Book:
SITUATION: In a relay race in which the acceleration zone is not permitted, the outgoing relay runner A2 takes a position just inside the beginning of the exchange zone. As incoming runner A1 approaches, A2 begins to accelerate by taking a step backward with the right foot outside the limit of the exchange zone. RULING: Violation.
The 2017-2018 NCAA Rules Book (not applicable to high school obviously) states it a little better in my opinion:
Rule 5, Section 8, Article 4 states:
"... outgoing runners shall start their running after establishing a position entirely within the 20-meter passing zone, not touching the ground outside the zone."
I believe the purpose of this rule is to prevent a situation where a runner waiting for the handoff is able to run alongside the incoming runner prior to the exchange zone in order to make the handoff easier or smoother. Likewise, a runner could help pace in their incoming runner as they are dying.
The rule is intended to keep the exchanges clear and fair. The dq, while unfortunate since your teammate didnt really break the spirit of the rule, was within the rules.
Yep. I make a point to stress this with our 4x8 guys. Every now and then one of them figures it out by the time he's a senior.
I’m a D2 female runner. Our coach explicitly told us not to visit LetsRun forums.
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
adizero Road to Records with Yomif Kejelcha, Agnes Ngetich, Hobbs Kessler & many more is Saturday
2024 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!