On the road to 2014... only another 123,000 miles to go
THE Commonwealth Games baton yesterday began its journey around the globe – with a royal send- off from the Queen.
Britain’s most successful Olympian, Sir Chris Hoy, delivered the baton to Buckingham Palace, where a personal handwritten message from the Monarch was placed inside.
The contents of that secret letter to the athletes will not be revealed until the opening ceremony in Glasgow on July 23, 2014.
The baton will now pass t hrough thousands of hands as it travels about 123,000 miles across 70 nations and territories over 248 days.
The first to grasp it after the Queen was Olympic champion Allan Wells, a two-time Commonwealth gold-winner and the final runner of the Queen’s Baton Relay at the last Games on Scottish soil, which took place in Edinburgh in 1986.
Speaking yesterday, Wells said: ‘It has been a real honour for me to receive the baton from Her Majesty the Queen and to be the first baton-bearer for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
‘To be involved in the ceremony at Buckingham Palace and to see the baton begin its journey is hugely exciting and I know that everyone who comes into contact with it over the next few months will be caught up in that excitement ahead of the Games.’
The baton was designed in Scotland. Its handle is made of wood from the island of Cumbrae and its granite ‘ gemstone’ comes from Ailsa Craig, which famously produces Scotland’s curling stones.
Its titanium latticework, a nod to Scotland’s industrial past, will be lit up by LED lights to make it visible at night.
The honour of carrying the baton down the Mall to the palace was given to now-retired Scots cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, accompanied by the Pipes and Drums of 1st Battalion, Scots Guards and the Pipes and Drums of 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland (Royal Scots Borderers).
The Queen, who wrote her note while staying at Balmoral on Royal Deeside, placed it inside the baton yesterday, watched by her husband the Duke of Edinburgh. She will next see it at Celtic Park in July. In the meantime it will traverse Asia, Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.
Some doubt was cast over the Indian leg of the tour, set to take place later this week, after reports it would clash with the Hindu festival of Dussehra, but organisers of the relay say it will go ahead.
However, part of the route has been withdrawn following The Gambia’s decision to leave the Commonwealth and the Games. The baton was passed from Allan Wells to Scots swimmer and double Commonwealth gold medallist Caitlin McClatchey at the palace gates. It was carried around the Queen Victoria Memorial twice before being taken up by athletes, volunteers and schoolchildren. These included Morgan McKinnon, a promising triple jumper, and Ruairi Kirkwood, a talented schoolboy swimmer.
The baton will spend an average of one to four days in each nation and will travel around Scotland for 40 days before the Games.