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

Title: Runway Routine

General Information about Item:

• customary lore, personal
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: LG
• Date Collected 10/21/21

Informant Data:

• Female, 19 years old, Born in Arkansas, Currently living in Hanover, NH
• LG is a Heptathalete, meaning she competes in seven track events: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin throw and 800 meters

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Track competitions are often as much mental as physical, especially the field events (throwing/jumping). Since track is an individual sport there is a lot of self-motivated pressure on an athlete to do well. Messing up only leaves ourself to blame so superstitions are common in this sport.
• Social Context: During a track meet, athletes have a certain amount of time once they step on the runway to jump. During this time they prepare themselves however they want as their competitors watch. Therefore personal folklore is easily passed around as having a certain routine before a good jump may convince younger competitors to do the same routine.

Item:

• LG has a specific runway routine (superstition) which she believes she must perform before each jump (in her jumping events) or she won’t do well. Although this is personal folklore she says that it was very common among jumpers on her high school team as well as The Dartmouth team. Her routine may be slightly unique but has shared elements that she learned by observing other athletes in jump event competition.

Informant Comments/Quotes:

• “I rock back and forth four times on the runway before actually going. If I don’t do this then the jump feels off.” -LG

Collector Comments:

• As a jumper myself I can verify LG’s observation about runway routines and how they are learned from others. Although it has a sense of individuality, it is also a track-wide practice, especially at Dartmouth, so I thought it was still valid to include in this collection.

Collected By: Chloe Taylor