relay race

Sprint race involving teams of four athletes who run in succession, passing a baton to one another. The first relay events at an Olympic meeting took place in 1908, when three races, with legs of 200 metres, 400 metres, and 800 metres, were staged. In the 1912 Olympics the 4 × 100-metre and 4 × 400-metre relays were introduced.

The relay race was first run in the USA, around 1880, to emulate the charity races organized by the New York fire service, in which red pennants were handed on every 300 yards.