Start with 100m, end with marathon. 100m runner hands baton to 200m runner who hands to 400m etc. Work in hurdles and steeplechase. Winner is team that finishes the last leg, marathon, first.
Variant Alpha:
The longer-distance events would probably have outsized importance in the overall result, e.g., Kenya would probably beat Jamaica on just the effort of Eliud Kipchoge's effort alone. To counter that, add more sprint legs and middle distance legs, e.g., 20x100m, 10x200m, ... 2x1500m.
Variant Beta:
Don't run as relay. Count points, kind of like in decathlon, depending on result in each race.
Variant Gamma:
Like Variant Beta, but use a staggered start for the marathon leg based on the scores at that point. I.e., the team with the best score after 10K starts first by a margin that is a function of how many points ahead they are.
Variant Delta:
Mixed team with both men and women. Each team must have an equal number of men and women. However, only one per distance. Pick your team accordingly.-- Goesta Berling, Aug 09 2021 Triathlon Mixed Relay, Tokyo 2020 https://www.youtube...watch?v=VItNFdBfR4oThe British, the British, the British are best! [DrBob, Aug 10 2021] Random Olympics Random_20Olympics [hippo, Aug 10 2021] A hop. The Hop, specifically. https://www.youtube...watch?v=U3KjDpvmtwU [whatrock, Aug 16 2021] Darts, Drinking https://www.youtube...watch?v=vqxXNZcIdwMLegendary sketch from Not The Nine O'Clock News. [DrBob, Aug 18 2021] Not quite the same, but in similar spirit, is the triathlon mixed relay. Something that the Brits turn out to be rather good at! In order to make your race more entertaining, in true halfbakery style, your team of runners should draw lots to see which leg they have to run.-- DrBob, Aug 10 2021 Runners have to run in knee-deep fluid, the viscosity to be proportional to the distance covered. So for the longest distance, air or perhaps some super-lightweight liquid. For the shortest distances, treacle.-- pocmloc, Aug 10 2021 At first I thought 'multi-directional relay race,' which I believe I could win if only I could figure out the handoff. "He's got amazing speed!" "I think his choice of running straight down the mountainside instead of along the course road had something to do with that..."-- RayfordSteele, Aug 10 2021 Or there's two-dimensional relay; two race tracks, two climbing walls, two batons: the athlete waiting at the end of the upper track (which is also the top of the second climbing wall) must collect both batons before proceeding to the next leg. If the next leg were a tightrope walk, they could use the pair of batons for balance.-- pertinax, Aug 10 2021 //Runners have to run in knee-deep fluid, the viscosity to be proportional to the distance covered// - "inversely proportional" I think you mean-- hippo, Aug 11 2021 Oh no, does it really fall to me to propose a tasty yellow non-newtonian fluid for this?-- Frankx, Aug 16 2021 Great idea though + particularly with [DrBob]'s amendment.-- Frankx, Aug 16 2021 // your team of runners should draw lots to see which leg they have to run //
I would think that they'd be able to run on both legs otherwise it wouldn't be a relay but a hop (link).-- whatrock, Aug 16 2021 A great leveller in the Olympics would the inclusion of a drinking section in each event. This would require each of the competitors to stop and sink half a dozen pints of beer within a time limit before proceeding.-- xenzag, Aug 16 2021 They already do this in darts-- hippo, Aug 16 2021 //sink half a dozen pints of beer// I couldn't drink that much of ANYTHING in one sitting. I don't know how people do that every weekend. One pint would impair an athlete enough to make a difference.-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 16 2021 ^ so perhaps limit the drinking to certain events, like downhill skiing?-- whatrock, Aug 17 2021 //They already do this in darts// linky.-- DrBob, Aug 18 2021 [DrBob] I had exactly that sketch in mind when I wrote that!-- hippo, Aug 18 2021 :)-- DrBob, Aug 18 2021 random, halfbakery