Queen’s Baton Relay Stops in Second City

The Queen’s Baton Relay made its penultimate stop in Jamaica at a cocktail reception at the RIU Palace Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James on Monday, April 7.

Minister of Sports, Hon. Natalie Neita Headley, and Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Glendon Harris, welcomed the four representatives from the Commonwealth Games Federation, and a three-member BBC crew, who accompanied the baton to the resort town.

In his welcoming address, Mayor Harris said, “I am always overjoyed to participate in positive events like this one, which are part of our general support for any event that seeks to strengthen the fibre that binds nations together.”

Sports, he said, continue to be “a great force for good… to build communities and to create harmony in society among all commonwealth members participating in the friendly games.”

Mayor Harris urged the Jamaican team that will participate in the Games to “simply and humbly go to the Games to retrieve those medals that are ours.”

The relay, which started in Kingston, has made its way across the island, ending in Spanish Town, St. Catherine on Tuesday night (April 8).

Jamaica is the baton’s 54^th stop, en route to 60 other Commonwealth nations, before arriving in Glasgow, Scotland, ahead of the start of the 20th Commonwealth Games on July 23.

Secretary General of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Louise Martin, who led the bid for the staging of the games in Glasgow said the baton is “one of a kind”.

She explains that, “it assembles of the old and new of Glasgow. The old is the base which is made of wood from the stern of an old ship, and the top which represents the modern, is made of titanium and holds an LED light instead of a flame.”

A curling stone, made from granite indigenous to Scotland, and taken from the head of the baton, was presented to Minister Neita Headley and officials from the Jamaica Olympic Association, by Mrs. Martin.

The Glasgow 2014 Queen’s Baton Relay, containing the Queen’s message, is slated to cover 190,000 kilometres in 288 days. It has been travelling around the globe since October 2013.

Also in attendance were Custos of St. James, Hon. Ewen Corrodus; Director of Tourism, John Lynch; Deputy Director of the  Jamaica Tourist Board, Jason Hall; Deputy British High Commissioner, Julia Sutherland; and RIU Palace Jamaica General Manager, Frank Sondern.

The Queen’s Baton Relay, is similar to the Olympic Torch Relay, and carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II. The Relay usually begins at Buckingham Palace in London as a part of the city’s Commonwealth Day festivities. At the opening of the Games, the final relay runner will hand the baton back to the Queen or her representative, who will then reads the message aloud, officially starting the Games.