What's the best way to make baton exchanges in a distance relay?

Midzone visual push-pass. The 400 leg should try to take the baton early in the zone and pass deeper in the zone. But safe passes are the primary goal.

The idea of taking a couple of fast strides is often used to avoid crowds in the zone, a way to protect the baton, 90+% of the time this is not a big issue as the runners are not usually tightly bunched

Depends on what is actually practiced. We have a team around us that uses the 3 step, turn technique and are fantastic with it. They obviously practice it. I agree with the previous poster that it is a great way to clear out of any traffic. It also does a good job of getting the outgoing runner moving and not the one-step or slow slide that I see so often.

I don't like using calls, but on occassion with someone new, I'll have the incoming runner tell them to start moving so they aren't frozen. We practice our batons every week but the kids still make mistakes.

I think it is best if you avoid the turn around. Just shove it in his/her ass

relayman wrote:

I think it is best if you avoid the turn around. Just shove it in his/her ass

That doesn't work as well now that everyone wears Under Armor.

relayman,

That method really slows down the second handoff.

+JP(_U&*jnksad wrote:

relayman,

That method really slows down the second handoff.

The deeper you stick it the faster they go

The runner should be giving it their all and should be dead at changeover time, if I ran a flatout time and the twat in front of me started sprinting before I got to him I'd just throw that baton at his head.