Hey JimG., I asked this question a while back and was not quite satisfied with the LetsRun answer, can you help?
What is the proper method and point in time to take a relay split? Is it at certain point on the track or at the handoff? It doesn't seem like it would be consistent or the result of one individual if you took it at the beginning of each handoff zone. I cannot find any written ruling on this.
Middle of the relay zone - that way it's consistent distance, no mater who actually has the baton. Remember the first exchange on a 4x400 is different zone (and thus middle) if it's a 3-turn stagger.
I think T&FN has something on this in their Big Green Book.
Makes sense, thanks. It doesn't seem like this is common knowledge, my splits never seem to match what is recorded for my daughter's races.
Jim, you seem right on the money w/your answers and activities lately. Can you help me make my NCAA men's b-ball bracket picks? I'll just want to bounce some ideas by you...I typically do rather well in my pools. We'll split the winnings! Thanks in advance.
The best way to do it, and the way that will maintain consistency, is when the BATON passes the middle of the zone.
For the first leg of an outdoor 4x4, the line you are looking for is the 800 meter start line in each line. All other splits for 4x4, 4x8, DMR, 4x1600 are done at the start/finish line.
That spells it out even more precisely. But the original poster is right, lots of coaches don't know how to take splits accurately.