The baton’s journey symbolises the unity and shared ideals of the Commonwealth of Nations, and enables communities beyond the Host City to share the Games celebrations. It also serves a functional purpose in carrying Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s ‘message to the athletes’ from Buckingham Palace in London to the opening ceremony of the Games.
The Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi commenced from Buckingham Palace, London, on the 29 October 2009. The baton will then travel through all other 70 Commonwealth nations – a historic journey that will cover a distance of more than 170,000 kilometres in 240 days. On its 100 day national tour, the baton will visit the capital of each of India’s 28 states and seven union territories, plus many other cities along the way, covering more than 20,000 kilometres. By the end of its journey, the baton will have traversed over 190,000 kilometres in 340 days, making the Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi one of the longest relays in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
The baton will also have passed through thousands of hands, and travelled by different modes of transport across land, air and sea. The relay will conclude after the final Batonbearer enters the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the XIX Commonwealth Games on 3 October 2010 where Her Majesty’s message will be removed from the baton and read aloud, officially opening the Games
The Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi, on its way to India, reached its penultimate international destination Bangladesh early