Title: Don’t Drop the Baton
General Information About Item:
- Customary folklore
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: CH
- Date Collected: 10/22/21
Informant Data:
- Female, 20 years old, Born in Los Angeles, CA, Currently living in Hanover, NH
- CH is a 100m, 200m, and 400m sprinter at Dartmouth
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: In every track meet there are individual races and team relays. During a relay a baton is passed from member to member until all four have completed the designated distance. This means only one per team is running at a time.
- Social Context: There are usually three main relay races in every meet. The most difficult being the 100 meter relay. This is because the baton handoff has to occur in a certain zone on the track. Since the distance is so short, the speed at which the handoff occurs is extremely fast. This unfortunately makes it easy to mess up and drop the baton. Dropping the baton is an instant disqualification from the race.
Item:
- CH described a tradition in which the relay batons are kept off the ground the entire meet.
Informant Comments/Quotes:
“The relay teams don’t let the baton touch the ground the entire day of the meet so that they won’t drop it in their race.” -CH
Collector Comments:
- While this tradition is not Dartmouth specific, Dartmouth Track and Field has been practicing it for many years. CH does not know who started this trend, only that it has been with the team for many years. The superstition that dropping the baton before the meet could cause them to drop it in the race is very understandable considering how difficult and high stakes the hand offs can be in competition.
Collected by: Chloe Taylor