4x400: time to make changes?

[piaba]

Time to change the rule that there has to be an affirmative finding that there was advantage taken by being out of place, sort of like stepping on the line in the straight (cf. Powell in the 100m).

But there was a definite advantage. Since Danvers was standing closer to the kerb, the third-leg English runner did not have to move quite as wide to pass the baton and saved a bit of distance, while the Australians had to run a longer distance.

i don't think that advantage is any bigger than the extra distance the runners in the back pack have to run as they are coming from the outside lane towards the curb or the inner lane.

[tandfman]

The whiny bitches complaining about this rule were the same whiny bitches complaining about their team being pushed around under the old rule.

I'm not going to comment on who's complaining about this rule. But it is true that before the rule was passed, there was often a lot of pushing and other body contact as the receiving runners tried to change positions to reflect the changes in the perceived positions of the incoming runners.

Interestingly, the race that caused the rule-makers to do something about this also occurred in Australia. The last exchange of the men's 4x400 at the 1985 World Cup in Canberra was a real mess, probably caused by the Australian anchor man. The officials did not call a foul on him, but the whole world was watching and the conclusion was that this was an example not just of a home-team call by the officials, but also of an area where disorderly conduct was much too common. And it was too hard to do anything about that without a specific rule governing the exchange process. So they enacted just such a rule.

[26mi235]

Time to change the rule that there has to be an affirmative finding that there was advantage taken by being out of place, sort of like stepping on the line in the straight (cf. Powell in the 100m).

But there was a definite advantage. Since Danvers was standing closer to the kerb, the third-leg English runner did not have to move quite as wide to pass the baton and saved a bit of distance, while the Australians had to run a longer distance.

i don't think that advantage is any bigger than the extra distance the runners in the back pack have to run as they are coming from the outside lane towards the curb or the inner lane.

The extra difference on the run down the straightaway is trivial, that is the piece the is a mere 5mm. You would have trouble measuring it on the track with a tape measure.

[piaba]

The extra difference on the run down the straightaway is trivial, that is the piece the is a mere 5mm. You would have trouble measuring it on the track with a tape measure.

huh? how do you compute that? 5 mm? if the runner is running in the straightaway in lane 5 and has to get to the inside lane, how's this runner not running a longer distance than the runner in lane 1? and compute that this can happen 3 more times with the other teammates and that team might be running a much longer race than the leaders.

[26mi235]

The extra difference on the run down the straightaway is trivial, that is the piece the is a mere 5mm. You would have trouble measuring it on the track with a tape measure.

huh? how do you compute that? 5 mm? if the runner is running in the straightaway in lane 5 and has to get to the inside lane, how's this runner not running a longer distance than the runner in lane 1? and compute that this can happen 3 more times with the other teammates and that team might be running a much longer race than the leaders.

The runner generally knows which lane they will have to run to (2, 3, etc.), thus they vector at the end of the curve 100m away. A situation where they have to suddenly change several lanes 20 meteres away is not plausable under the base scenario under discussion (runner#2, who is become #1 goes to lane #2 (or the switch).

The only thing that really matters is orderlyness and lack of confusion at the hand-off line (which would avoid and big vector changes near the line -- such a change will still cause more of a problem because of changing directions at speed while tiring than from extra distance on the straightaway).