BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-AS a part of the lead up to this year’s Commonwealth Games in Dehli, India the Federation will host the Queen’s Baton Relay for three days next month.
From March 19-21, the Queen’s Baton will be in both St. Kitts and Nevis in celebration of the 19th edition of the games and shall make a stop at many of the historic and cultural sites around the nation.
The Baton is scheduled to visit all 71 competing territories prior to the October 3 start of the games, and President of the St. Kitts-Nevis National Olympic Committee (NOC) Alphonso Bridgewater told SKNVibes that his association planned to use the opportunity in myriad ways.
“Prior to its arrival here…we will be speaking about the Commonwealth and what it is about to help raise awareness of the Commonwealth of Nations. Then, this particular event serves as a curtain raiser for the games itself.”
Upon the Baton’s arrival in the Federation from Montserrat, members of the NOC and Commonwealth Games Association, government officials and Former Commonwealth 100m champion Kim Collins will visit Governor General His Excellency Dr. Sir Cuthbert Sebastian and Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Denzil Douglas.
Then on March 20, the Baton will be passed in a series of three relays in St. Kitts-Nevis and will be handled by as many as 80-100 celebrities, elite and junior level athletes, government officials, sports association officials and military personnel.
During the relay portion of the visit, the Baton will pass many of the most famous sites in St. Kitts-Nevis including the Circus, the Cenotaph War Memorial, the Public Market, Port Zante, Right Excellency Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw’s monument in St. Pauls, Brimstone Hill National Fortress, Sky Safaris, Walwyn Square, Elquemido Willet Park and many others.
Bridgewater noted that this year’s Baton has been specially designed with a camera inside to take pictures of all the countries it visits, which are then nearly instantly broadcast on the Commonwealth Games website.
“It gives the opportunity for each country to highlight some of the places it visits and for us to promote ourselves as a tourist destination.
“That is why in St. Kitts-Nevis our focus is going to be on youth, energy and scenery. From that we are trying to attract visitors. We are hoping somebody sees for example the Sky Safaris; we think that would be particularly unique,” Bridgewater stated.
On the final day that the Baton is in the Federation it will be on display at the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Stadium, where the TDC/Coca-Cola Interschool Championships will be held the same weekend.
The NOC President said that his committee hopes the public would have the opportunity to see the Baton in person at that venue and possibly have a chance to hold.
“We don’t know how much we will get to do, but we are hoping people could maybe pay $5 to get a chance to touch it. With that we would run a raffle and then the winner would get a chance to take a photo with the baton and the money raised in that way would be used for the Haitian [earthquake relief] fund,” he said.
The Commonwealth Games began in 1930 as the British Empire Games and were originally held in Hamilton, Ontario. The Federation sent its first athletes to the games in 1978 and has competed regularly since 1990.
