Queen’s baton on its way to Vanuatu

THE Queen’s baton was relayed around the capital last Friday by 76 people before it took on another leg of its journey to Vanuatu on Saturday.
Beginning its relay from the Independence Hill, the baton was relayed along the 20km of stretch around the nation’s capital and took about three hours to reach its final destination, the Sir John Guise Stadium.
Even though the day seemed gloomy, last Friday, fortunately the sky cleared to give the chain of runners a clear view of the path ahead.
Among the participants were some of Papua New Guinea’s sporting icons from various codes like Dika Toua, Mae Koime, Stanley Nandex and veterans Iamo Launa and Takale Tuna and Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane, who took the initial steps of the baton’s relay.
PNG Sport Federation secretary-general Sir John Dawanicura, National Capital District Commision (NCDC) deputy city manager Honk Kiap and PNG’s ambassador to India, Tarcy Eri, also had a hand in carrying the baton.
The Queen’s Baton will make its way around the Pacific before it reaches Asia and finally make its way to India on June 25 before this year’s  Commonwealth Games.
The Baton will have travelled over 190,000km within the space of a year through 71 Commonwealth nations and will prove to be the longest the baton has travelled.