London: The Queen's Baton Relay, one of the traditions of the Commonwealth Games, will travel 1,70,000 km and pass through 70 Commonwealth nations before reaching India for the Games starting on October 3 next year.
It will take the Queen's Baton 240 days to complete the epic journey to all of the other 70 nations. On its 100-day tour in India, the baton will visit all the capital cities in India's 28 states and seven union territories and many other cities along the way, covering well over 20,000 km.
On arrival at the opening ceremony, the Baton will have travelled in excess of 190,000 km over a 340-day period. This will make the Queen's Baton Relay one of the longest relays in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
The Baton's run in India for the 2010 Delhi Games will be twice as long as the Manchester and Melbourne relays, which lasted for 50 days each.
Queen's Baton Relays have been the curtain raiser to every game since Cardiff, Wales, in 1958. The Queen's Baton for 2010 Delhi Games contains Queen Elizabeth II's 'message to the athletes.'
The relay will conclude in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on October 3. During the ceremony, the final Baton bearer will hand the baton back to Queen Elizabeth II or her representative, where the Queen's message will be read aloud, officially opening the Games.
Pass it on
President Pratibha Patil joined Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday to launch 2010 Commonwealth Games baton relay at a gala Indian ceremony in Buckingham Palace.
The 51-year-old tradition took place on the last day of Patil's three-day state visit to Britain, with the Queen formally bidding farewell to Patil at the Palace's Grand Entrance.
The baton was packed with high-tech cameras, sound-recorders and LED lights all made in India.
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After a colourful performance of Indian music and dance on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the baton was passed in turn from the Queen to Patil, to Sports Minister MS Gill, Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, and finally to the 14 athletes who began the baton relay.
Running with the baton outside the Palace in central London were shooter Abhinav Bindra, former British runner Sebastian Coe, former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev, tennis star Sania Mirza, ‘Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh, British runner Kelly Holmes, England cricketer Monty Panesar, boxer Vijender Kumar, squash player Misha Soni, wrestler Sushil Kumar, British wheelchair table tennis player Susan Gilroy, weighlifter Karnam Malleshwari, hockey star Dilip Tirkey and decathlete Gurbachan Singh Randhawa.
They were cheered by hundreds of people who lined the gates of Buckingham Palace.
The baton was carried to the Queen Victoria Memorial and The Mall in central London, before making its way to Trafalgar Square.
By the end of this epic journey, it will have travelled for 340 days and covered more than 190,000 km, passing through the hands of thousands of individuals across land, air, sea and on many different modes of transport – from bicycle and boat to hot air balloon, steam train and even an elephant.
The baton's journey will take in some of the most remote places in the Commonwealth, including the British-administered territory of St. Helena – accessible only by boat – and the Falkland Islands.
It will enter India from the Attari border with Pakistan on June 25 before starting on a journey of 28 states and seven union territories, covering a distance of over 20,000 km.
The relay will end at the opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on October 3, where athletes will be read out the Queen's message, engraved on a miniature 18-carat gold leaf representing the ancient Indian patra - currently locked in a jewellery box inside the baton.
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