Commonwealth Games baton relay begins

LONDON (AP) -- Middle-distance running legend Roger Bannister began the first Commonwealth Games baton relay 44 years ago. On Monday, he began the countdown to July's event in Manchester, England, after taking the baton from Queen Elizabeth II in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.

The baton relay is the equivalent of the Olympic torch relay. This year, it will travel 59,000 miles (80,000 kilometers), visiting around 23 countries in the British commonwealth over 87 days.

Bannister, the first man to run the mile under four minutes in 1954, took the aluminum baton to the gates of the palace and handed it to dual Olympic middle distance gold medalist Sebastian Coe.

The queen, dressed in a bright fuschia coat and hat, with black gloves and handbag, inserted a message to be read at the opening of the games into the top of the baton. Fireworks were set off from the palace and colored balloons released.

Among the British sporting heroes taking part in the ceremony were Manchester United legends Bobby Charlton and George Best, plus five-time Olympic rowing gold medalist Steve Redgrave.

Chris Brasher, one of the pacemakers who helped Bannister run the sub-four-minute mile and who later won gold in the steeplechase at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, also attended.

Unlike the torch relay, the same baton will be passed along 5,000 runners before the games start in the northern English city on July 25.

The queen will open and close the games for the first time as part of jubilee celebrations, honoring her 50 years on the throne.

The baton, which weighs 1.70 kilograms (3 pounds), has sensors in the handle that detect and monitor the runner's pulse rate, creating a blue pulsating light up the baton.

Bannister said the Commonwealth Games had provided some highlights of his career, including his duel with Australian John Landy, who broke Bannister's mile record a month before the 1954 event.

"I could have possibly retired a disappointed man in 1952 but I decided to go on for another two years and then the four minute mile came up and somebody had to do it," Bannister said.

"I then went on to the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver which was probably my best race against John Landy. It was a good race, I did beat him but we were both under four minutes so that was very satisfactory."

Bannister said the Commonwealth Games still had a place in sport.

"It does mean a lot, that 72 countries still want to come," he said. "There are some who want to denigrate the Commonwealth... I think people do feel a kind of connection with the past and sport is one of the best ways of drawing together young people from the Commonwealth.

"Many of these contacts remain for life. I'm a good friend of John Landy and he's asked me to go stay with him and I probably will."

Bannister will present the medals for the 1,500 meters in Manchester.

The baton also went to Westminster Abbey, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair posed with it before attending a service to commemorate Commonwealth Day. On Tuesday, it travels by plane to Canada where it will be displayed in Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto.

The relay will visit countries including Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and India. Zimbabwe did not request the relay and the baton will not visit there.

The baton arrives on June 6 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a 50-day relay throughout the United Kingdom. Organizers said the relay would travel within one hour's drive of 95 percent of the population.

The Manchester games will feature 5,000 athletes from 72 nations. They will take part in 17 sports, including some non-Olympic events such as cricket and rugby union.

For the first time, the games, running until Aug. 4 will include eight events for 200 athletes with a disability. Those events will count toward the overall medal tally.

They were first held in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1930 as the British Empire Games, before being renamed the Commonwealth Games in 1954.

 

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