The Commonwealth Games baton made its 63rd stop on an epic round-the-world journey when it reached Norfolk Island on day 219 of the Queen’s Baton Relay.
Delayed in Tuvalu by two days, the baton was welcomed to the Island by the Administrator Mr Owen Walsh, Assembly members and the Norfolk Island Queen’s baton relay organising committee.
Community Services Minister Tim Sheridan, representing the Norfolk Island Assembly, received the baton at the Norfolk Island Bowling Cub.
He said the baton’s visit marked the 6th Commonwealth Games in which Norfolk Island has fielded competitors.
“The baton itself is an extraordinary piece of equipment and it looks really magnificent in Norfolk Island colours,” he said.
The Queen’s baton relay representative Ms Bianca Negri said the community spirit shown at the bowling club was the same spirit that athletes displayed at the Commonwealth Games.
Mr Denis Sterling from the Norfolk Island Amateur Sporting Association said the young people who had taken part in the relay and were representing their sports at the bowling club were the sports ambassadors of tomorrow.
Despite the rain and strong winds, sportsmen and women, children, Norfolk residents and tourists took the opportunity to watch the baton make its way from the airport down Taylors Road to the bowling club. Many had their photo taken with the baton.
The baton began its journey on October 29 last year, making its way from Buckingham Palace, England to Delhi, India for the start of the Games on October 3.
The 340-day marathon baton relay will see it travel more than 190,000km through 71 Commonwealth nations.
The baton relay is traditionally the curtain-raising event for the Commonwealth Games and was first conducted in 1958.
It symbolises the unity and shared ideals of the Commonwealth nations as they gather every four years for a celebration of sports and culture.
Passed from hand to hand, the baton carries a message from Her Majesty the Queen, which she will read at the starting ceremony at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.
The baton can capture images and sound as it travels so check out www.cwgdelhi2010.org/batonrelay2010 to see the baton’s visit to Norfolk Island.
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