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.

---

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• relay races
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relay race

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relay race

If life is a relay race, your brother passed on the Social Security baton.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 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

Angie has on an armband, which should make me happy, but she gives armbands to the other girls she runs the relay race with, and none of them even look my way.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée