4x1 Order

[ChinDiesel]

What is the best 4x1 order? 1-4 as fastest-slowest... I think its 2-3-4-1... What do you guys think ?

[AznJumpr23]

i think it should be 2- who ever out of 3/4 can run the straight away fastest - who ever out of 3/4 can run the turn fastest - 1

[Ecliptica]

My team ran it 2-1-3-4 (11.1 / 10.9 / 11.4 / 11.4) and we did pretty well for ourselves this year. We always had a lead by the time our anchor leg got it and though he was "technically" the slowest runner on our team, he was the best anchor and with that lead there wasn't as much pressure on him as there would have been had our 10.9 guy or me been anchoring.
We did pretty well for ourselves, too, 44.06 with a botched hand-off between myself and the second leg that cost us a good .8-1 second off our final time.

[JumpinSkiing]

For my team it was uh

2-4-3-1

11.4-11.9-11.7-11.0

Ended up running 43.81


those times seem off to me, they probably are like .2 higher than what they should be.

[Andre.]

I just went to a track camp at Princeton, and on the last day there was a big meet in which the 4x1 ran a 42.xx. I believe the order was like:

Doug Cloninger - Morristown, NJ (2nd fastest)
Allan Lukenheimer - Old Bridge, NJ (4th fastest)
Mike Demko - Heightstown, NJ (3rd fastest)
Bryant McCombs - Old Bridge, NJ (Fastest)

[BVHrun-er]

my team ran it with our #3 guy starting, then our #1 guy on the backstretch, he runs the fastest 100 open and he gets the baton longer than anyone else. then the 3rd leg and anchor would always swtich around

[thabreeze]

This year my relay went 2-1-4-3. I ran the backstretch because it is supposed to be the longest leg of the relay and we always had a huge lead by the 3rd leg and usually didn't get caught. Splits were sumthin like 10.7-10.6-11.5-11.6. This summer i have been runnin anchor and it feels like i run faster at anchor. It seems like 2-3-4-1 would be the best order.

[lollazyboiy]

my 4by1 team(jv) runs it by 2-1-4-3 46.xx then varsity does 1-2-3-4 which they ran like 43.77 pr

[Ecliptica]

This year my relay went 2-1-4-3. I ran the backstretch because it is supposed to be the longest leg of the relay and we always had a huge lead by the 3rd leg and usually didn't get caught.

Right, that's why we had our 10.9 guy run the longest leg, he was also our best 200/400 runner, so the longer he was on the track the better for us.
I'm just pissed our team never got into that 43 range, with our slowest guy being an 11.4 runner I think we could've been mid to low 43 if we ever got the hand-offs right. Only ran that fast team twice (44.15 and 44.06) and both times we screwed up the baton pass :(

[rhssprinter]

Ours went:

1- 3rd fastest
2- slowest
3- 2nd fastet (around the same as 1)
4- fastest

Ran a 50.0
1- 12.9
2- 12.6
3- 12.6
4- 11.5

[aidan]

Also something to consider, if you have someone who is a 55m specialist, aka has a great start, you should put him first, because any other let, his start will be wasted. Like me, I have a horrible start, and i run just under 12 for an open race, but I have anchored my 4x1 team a few times, and have gotten multiple splits between 11.1 and 10.9... so, in conclusion, open 100m times do not always give a perfect representation of which leg people should be running.

[Ecliptica]

Yeah, but 4x1 split is to accurate as Christopher Reeve is to alive. I know our anchor leg "split" 10.3 and his best open was 11.4.
That's also why I didn't count handtimes as our teams best - we "ran" a 43.2 the only time we really had a good race with good handoffs, but we couldn't put it together for All-States and only managed a 44.06 (and our coach had us handtimed at 44.1, haha, she was good with the stopwatch, maybe our 43.2 could've been an FAT 43.30ish)

And rhssprinter - is that for a girls team? An 11.5 open is blazing for a girl, what school is this?

[In_The_Shadows]

We ran with the order 2-1-4-3. The way we had the race set up was our lead-off would run 95 meters, our 2nd leg would run 110 meters, our 3rd leg would run 90, and our anchor would run 105.
With PRs of 11.2 - 10.9 - 11.3 - 11.3 , we ended up running 42.9, so I'd say we did pretty well for ourselves.

[one_more_hurdler]

we do 2nd fastest 1st, slowest 2nd, 3rd fastest 3rd, and fastest 4th.

[teamV]

our team ran second, fourth, third, first fastest (11.2, 11.7, 11.6, 10.8)
it was a pretty standard mediocre relay

[barton_hurdler]

i will say this time and time again that the stud should run the second leg, to allow him to run a 120 meters. The slowest guy whould be 3rd so he can just run 80 meters, and your 60 meter specialist should start so he can get out of the blocks and put pressure on everyone else to screw up.

i would vote:
2-4-1-3

[Ecliptica]

i will say this time and time again that the stud should run the second leg, to allow him to run a 120 meters. The slowest guy whould be 3rd so he can just run 80 meters, and your 60 meter specialist should start so he can get out of the blocks and put pressure on everyone else to screw up.

i would vote:
2-4-1-3

So wouldn't you be wanting a 2-1-4-3?

[MeadeSprinter07]

For the 4x1 i don't think that you can determine the older of a relay team by how fast the people are and what leg they should run based on there speed. The reason i think this is because different people are good at different things, like me i'm a good curve runner but i'm not a good starter so 3rd leg would be the best place to put me and i remember a couple of years ago when i was in middle school we had a good relay team and the slowest person out of us was the lead-off leg. He had a slower 100 time but he was the best lead-off runner.

[hungso_lo]

Yeah, but 4x1 split is to accurate as Christopher Reeve is to alive. I know our anchor leg "split" 10.3 and his best open was 11.4.
That's also why I didn't count handtimes as our teams best - we "ran" a 43.2 the only time we really had a good race with good handoffs, but we couldn't put it together for All-States and only managed a 44.06 (and our coach had us handtimed at 44.1, haha, she was good with the stopwatch, maybe our 43.2 could've been an FAT 43.30ish)

And rhssprinter - is that for a girls team? An 11.5 open is blazing for a girl, what school is this?


That split for your anchor leg is probably accurate. Most splits taken for the runners on the straights are usually one second faster than the persons open time. The guys on the curve are usually a little slower and the 1st leg is usually about .2-.2 slower than that runners open time.


4x1 order usually should have the 2 fastest guys on the straight. It's just physics. You want to allow your fastest guys to give you the biggest advantage. And by fastest that doesn't mean their times. You might have a guy running 10.5 who is actually faster than the guy running 10.3 The 10.5 guy might have a terrible start, etc. So if also the obvious things like who runs what better, curve, start, finish, etc. Even things like height could take part into the decision.

Runner A 10.2 (5'10')
Runner B 10.6 (6'1") Bad starter
Runner C 10.3 (5'9") Accelerates the best
Runner D 10.4 (5'7")

Ex.
1st Runner C
2nd Runner B
3rd Runner D
4th Runner A

[RSkylineR34]

shouldnt always be times
1 good curve, not so good at recieving baton
2 best straight runner
3 best curve
4 best competiter, can shine in a head on race

[Brumund-Smith]

Unless you have a videotape of a race where you can clearly see the middle of each exchange zone and can get a slo-mo analysis of each leg, there is virtually no validity in taking 4x1 splits.

Also, what most people do not realize is that you CAN have the third dude run 120m and the backstretch guy run 80m. If you have a very strong curve runner (200m type), why not stretch out the third leg? I know that is not a common strategy, but with the right personell it makes plenty of sense. The main problem, of course, is that now you've got a shortened anchor leg...and most people like to put a stud on anchor.

[hungso_lo]

Unless you have a videotape of a race where you can clearly see the middle of each exchange zone and can get a slo-mo analysis of each leg, there is virtually no validity in taking 4x1 splits.

Also, what most people do not realize is that you CAN have the third dude run 120m and the backstretch guy run 80m. If you have a very strong curve runner (200m type), why not stretch out the third leg? I know that is not a common strategy, but with the right personell it makes plenty of sense. The main problem, of course, is that now you've got a shortened anchor leg...and most people like to put a stud on anchor.


Making one leg run longer in a relay never made since. In order to do that you are sacrificing clean exchanges, and you put the team at risk of running out of the exchange zone. The only way these types of legs would be possible without sacrifice, would be if there was no limit on the acceleration zone. But since there is a limit on how much area you have to accelerate, there's no way to have any leg run shorter or farther than neccessary without sacrificing the exchange.

The curve is the last place you would want an extended leg. It puts a cap on that runners top speed, and the longer you run on the curve and the faster you try to go the slower you'll be.

[Brumund-Smith]

Making one leg run longer in a relay never made since. In order to do that you are sacrificing clean exchanges, and you put the team at risk of running out of the exchange zone. The only way these types of legs would be possible without sacrifice, would be if there was no limit on the acceleration zone. But since there is a limit on how much area you have to accelerate, there's no way to have any leg run shorter or farther than neccessary without sacrificing the exchange.

The curve is the last place you would want an extended leg. It puts a cap on that runners top speed, and the longer you run on the curve and the faster you try to go the slower you'll be.

Okay, so you are saying that if you have four guys on a relay, and three of them have 10.35 100m PRs and the fourth guys has a 12.55 PR that you think it's a good idea to have them ALL RUN THE SAME DISTANCE! Heck no, you shorten up that one dude's leg as much as possible. You have him catch it at the end of the zone and pass off at the beginning of the zone. That is entirely possible with the acceleration zones. There is no reason NOT to do this.

[MeadeSprinter07]

Okay, so you are saying that if you have four guys on a relay, and three of them have 10.35 100m PRs and the fourth guys has a 12.55 PR that you think it's a good idea to have them ALL RUN THE SAME DISTANCE! Heck no, you shorten up that one dude's leg as much as possible. You have him catch it at the end of the zone and pass off at the beginning of the zone. That is entirely possible with the acceleration zones. There is no reason NOT to do this.

Thank you for speaking for me because that is basically the same that i was gonna say.

[Brumund-Smith]

Thank you for speaking for me because that is basically the same that i was gonna say.

Anybody who thinks differently should NEVER be a coach. I suppose running on the inside of your lane doesn't help you either. Why not take off from a few feet behind the long jump board? Both of those make about as much sense.

[Recklis_Balla]

My Soph. year our order was:
1st leg - 4th fastest (best start)
2nd leg - Fastest
3rd leg - 2nd fastest(me)
4th leg - 3rd fastest (same as 1st leg at top speed a lil faster)
(4th leg) - 4th fastest when original 4th leg is out
41.22 was our best
41.35 fastest w/ other 4th leg

This year we lost 1st, 2nd and alternate 4th leg.
1st - 3rd fastest
2nd - Fastest(3rd leg on soph relay)(me)
3rd - 4th fastest
4th - 2nd fastest(4th leg on soph relay)
42.72

Also another order for this year was
1st - 4th fastest(diff person)(great start)
2nd - Fastest(me)
3rd - 2nd fastest
4th - 4th fastest(1st leg on other relay, just as fast as first leg on this one)
ran relay twice first time was slow and 2nd time didn't finish...this relay was faster than the 42.72

My summer relay went
1st leg - 4th fastest(nice start)
2nd leg - 2nd fastest(me)
3rd leg - 3rd fastest(2nd fastest from relay above)
4th leg - Fastest
41.04 was our best time

With the 2 faster relays it was more strategy...I could have ran anchor my soph year but I had a better....and the summer relay I ran 2nd because me and the 3rd ran together all year and our anchor always ran anchor oh his relays nad our 1st leg ran first leg on his school relays so that was simple.

On the two slower I ran 2nd because it was longer, and our #2 doesn't have a good start so we put him anchor but he ran a better third leg when we got an anchor, and our first leg s just had the best starts out of everyone else , and we wanted them to do was maintain.