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Queen's Baton arrives in GC2018 Event City Brisbane
The Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) has arrived in Brisbane, travelling from Redcliffe to Sherwood in the hands of more than 90 batonbearers today as the Event City gets ready to host the Shooting and Track Cycling for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018).
Australia’s sporting superstars thrilled thousands of supporters who lined the streets for a chance to see their heroes hold the Queen’s Baton. Among them, local legend and Paralympic gold medallist (Swimming) Lakeisha 'Lucky' Patterson OAM.
“I’m very honoured to be nominated by the community and everyone who has been a part of this Relay journey has done amazing things in their community, so it’s such an honour to be recognised.”
The inspirational young athlete, who is on the GC2018 Australian swim team, acknowledged the strides currently taken in sport towards inclusion, in particular GC2018, which in five days’ time will host the largest integrated Para-Sport program in Commonwealth Games history.
“Inclusion is going in the right direction. I think we’ll have massive, massive crowds. Competing for your country in front of your country, it’s really quite special. It’s going to be a great Games.”
Commonwealth Games and Olympic gold medallist Alicia Coutts OAM said she was overwhelmed by the experience.
“It’s very exciting to have the Queen’s Baton in Brisbane and the crowds are fantastic! It wasn’t until I jumped off the [Batonbearer] bus that it sunk in how much of an honour it is to be part of it [the Relay] today.”
Coutts rose to fame for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth with a five gold-medal haul.
“The Commonwealth Games are very special to me as they were a big part of my life during my swimming career.”
For another swimming golden girl, Giaan Rooney OAM, being a GC2018 Batonbearer capped off a remarkable athletic career.
“Being involved in the Relay is a completely different perspective for me. I was fortunate to compete at three Commonwealth Games as an athlete and this now makes me feel a huge part of the community and I just love the fact that everyone is so excited for the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
“It’s great being part of something that is so much bigger than myself. The fantastic crowds here today shows how much people love the Commonwealth Games, sport and the community spirit means to everyone.”
QBR celebrations in Brisbane continue tomorrow as the Queen’s Baton showcases the best of the city before Jeff Horn carries the Queen’s Baton into the QBR Major Celebration Event in South Bank Parklands headlined by Josh Pyke.
Over one million tickets have already been sold for GC2018 but there are tickets still available across a wide variety of GC2018 sports including Athletics, Squash, Badminton, Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Boxing and the Basketball preliminaries in Townsville and Cairns.
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