relay race

American  

noun

Sports.

relay races plural

1. a race between two or more teams of contestants, each contestant being relieved by a teammate after running part of the distance.

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relay race British  

noun

1. a race between two or more teams of contestants in which each contestant covers a specified portion of the distance

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• relay races
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relay race

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

I kind of feel like we’re all in this relay race, right, and we’re just fumbling the ball to one another and trying to move forward.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026

Ashley Porter, a 39-year-old marathon runner in Washington, D.C., started mixing trail runs into her weekly training to prepare for a long-distance running relay race in Zion National Park, in Orderville, Utah, in May.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

"We're in a relay race, and we're not successful until the next missions are successful."

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

Fernandez said he wasn’t in any of the groups but testified that in the early 2000s he drew a logo for the Compton station’s Baker-to-Vegas relay race team.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 12, 2024

From then on Sadako thought of only one thing—the relay race.

From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr