Are there any official rules for a Harris relay?

My understanding has always been that if all team members do not visit all the spine controls then the team will be disqualified for having not completed the course.

Having recently competed in a Harris Relay with an add rule of being 15 minutes late back the team loses all there points, I was in a position that I could not get all the spine with in the time limit. I continued trying to get the last 2 spine controls before the 15 minutes elapsed. I did not make it and finished just over 16 minutes late back and excepted that the team would lose all their points, but was amazed when I looked at the results and saw that the team that was in 3rd place, not all the team members had visited all the spine controls and if I had left the last 2 the team I was in would have been on the podium.

If this is acceptable then is there any point in having a spine?

No official rules Ed - it’s not an IOF or even BOF-recognised format.

Penalties for missing spine controls are often used but they are usually so large that missing spine controls is simply not worth it. A good Harris relay should have relatively straightforward spine controls which all team members should be able to get comfortably within the time limit. And of course the rules should be clearly published beforehand and then stuck to.

Edward, The Harris Relay is something we in the military use a lot as it encourages team work and knowing the abilities of all your other team members.  It was started by Lt Col Steve Harris (sadly a victim of cancer a couple of years ago) who was chairman of BAOC.  He brought the idea over from Germany and I have adapted it to suit our needs.  The normal Harris entails everyone in the team getting the spine or the team is DSQ, also at least one of the team must get the other controls, if not again DSQ.  Teams are normally 3 or 4, but can even be 2 or 5+ if you have a big enough map.  The 15 mins penalty for missing a control has been brought in for our Army Team champs and other area competitons as we often get newcomers attending to make up the numbers and rather than teams all getting DSQ we prefer to penalise them instead. Also they are often two day competitions and we don’t want loads of teams dsq on day 1 and with a conventional relay on day 2 they have been known to make up the time.  15 mins was chosen as it is normally a sufficient enough penalty to prevent a team winning, but also offers the option of dashing back out to get a missed control.  I think in your case someone has badly worded the instructions.  As I said the norm is everyone must get the spine, otherwise it is not really a Harris Relay.