Ski To Sea Race - The Baton

The Baton

The first several races used an actual baton. Later, necklace medallions were added and racers had to place the medallion over around the neck of their teammate as they tagged off to the next event. For many years, a sweatband, worn on the wrist, took the place of the medallion. Racers would pass the sweatband to their teammate racing the next leg at the transition points. In recent years, the race has used transponder timing and teams have carried an electronic timing chip attached to a lanyard. The chip is swiped at the start of the race and is carried by the lanyard that is traded off from one teammate to the other at the exchange of each leg. At the transition point for each leg of the race, the chip is swiped again to register the end time of the previous leg, and the start of the next. The chip has to be swiped at the end of the race by the kayaker after ringing the ceremonial bell. For the 2011 edition of the race, the chip was mounted to a neoprene wristband instead of a lanyard.