Handing over the baton

10M FLY ZONE

There’s a 10-metre fly zone where the outgoing runner gets up to speed before entering the 20-metre exchange zone where the baton must be passed between team members.

The leadoff runner leaves from the blocks with the starting gun but the other three must determine through practice when to start running. The current Canadian men’s relay team members walk back 26 to 29 steps from the start of their fly zone and put down a tape marker on the track. They need to start running just before the incoming runner steps on that piece of tape.

20M EXCHANGE ZONE

Depending on where they pass the baton in the 20-metre exchange zone determines how long each leg actually is — and how fast the relay team can be. The incoming runner is moving faster than the outgoing runner who has only had 10 metres to accelerate, so the farther into that zone they run before transferring the baton, the faster the overall time will be, assuming nothing goes wrong.

Canada hasn’t had much trouble in the exchange zone of late. In fact, the last time Gilbert can remember it happening was when he did it at the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain. The late handoff between Gilbert, running the second leg, and Trevino Betty cost the team its chance at a third straight world title.