4x50 Relay Gain: Beat Your Combined Times

Each team adds up its runners' individual 50 m times and then tries to make its 4x50 relay faster than that total through good handoffs. The team that gains the most time wins, not the fastest team, so students work on teamwork, planning and exchange technique.

How to play

1. Form 5 teams of 5 with pinnies; a different member rests each round. Use a 200 m oval marked with cones, with 3 exchange zones 20 m long (2 min).
2. Individual times: each student runs 50 m from a standing start while a teammate times them; the team adds up the 4 times of the runners in the relay (6 min).
3. Planning: the team picks the order (best starter first, best curve runner second) and alternates hands: right, left, right, left (3 min).
4. Practice: two handoffs in each zone at 80%, with the outgoing runner leaving when the incoming runner hits the check mark (5 min).
5. Official race: two teams at a time in separate lanes; the teacher times it and the team calculates its gain, which is the sum of individual times minus the relay time (5 min).
6. Second try: after 1 minute to adjust marks or order, run again and compare the gain from both tries (4 min).

Rules

• A handoff is legal only inside the 20 m zone; a pass outside it adds 2 seconds.
• Each runner stays in their lane until the other teams have gone by.
• If the baton drops, the last runner to touch it picks it up without entering other lanes.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: a student in a wheelchair covers a 25 m leg and uses their individual time over that same distance, so the comparison stays fair.
• Shyness: the student picks their relay position and may start as a zone judge if they prefer.
• Lower fitness: run the first leg, which does not require a moving start.

Learning goals

• Show with data that a good handoff saves the team time.
• Plan the running order and passing hand as a group.
• Pass the baton at speed inside the exchange zone.

Equipment for a class of 25

• batons: 5
• cones: 24
• stopwatch: 6
• pinnies: 25

Teacher tip

Write the totals on a whiteboard so everyone sees the gain, and celebrate progress by slower teams.

More main activities for High School