Arcane events - the 4 x 440yh

[cigar95]

This event attracted some interest back in the 70s and 80s but I haven't seen one run in a very long time.
How did it work? Clearly everyone needed to run from the standard start line, but somehow the "go" signal had to get to them from the finish line.

My interest comes from going through some old high school results from 2004 and finding a mark for LB Wilson in the 4 x 300h - the only time I'd ever even heard of this event being contested. (Consensus for this was that they simply ran individually and added the times, like the field event "relays" we sometimes see,)

[dj]

Two officials per team. One would indicate when the incoming runner reached the finish line, the other would tap the outgoing runner in the blocks on the shoulder to initiate the next leg.

[ianb]

I ran in a relays match between Cambridge and Oxford universities at Crystal Palace in about 1981. It included a 4 x 110H shuttle relay and also a 4 x 200H relay, which I think was also a shuttle (it was a long time ago and I can't be certain of the format). I never saw a 4 x 200H anywhere else.

[Halfmiler2]

I saw a 4x400h probably in 1978 at a college relay meet hosted by the University of Virginia. I think it was Dennis Craddock’s idea. I was at UVA law school at the time.

The way they did it was that each team stayed in one lane the whole race. (They may have left Lane 1 and 2 open.) Each outgoing hurdler would be in the blocks and when the incoming hurdler hit the finish line, a teammate behind the outgoing hurdler would pat the outgoing hurdler or say go - I do not recall which.