Versatile newspaper's feature — a relay race? (5,3)

I believe the answer is:

split run

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'versatile newspaper's feature a' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'relay race?' is the wordplay.
'relay' becomes 'split' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'race?' becomes 'run' ('run' can be a synonym of 'race').
'split'+'run'='SPLIT RUN'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.