AfterwardsQueen's Baton Relay, South Perth
Carrying The Queen's Baton
Renee Russell had filmed the end of my walk into Brisbane. Eighteen months later she nominated me for the Queen's Baton Relay, leading to an unforgettable day in South Perth.
On 17 September 2015, Renee Russell stood at South Bank and filmed me walking into Brisbane.
It was the end of the Perth-to-Brisbane walk, and I will always be grateful that she captured those final moments. Renee was the event director at Varsity Lakes parkrun on the Gold Coast, and our paths continued to cross after HAA. When she visited Perth in April 2016, we caught up at Canning River parkrun.
Then, in March 2017, Renee put my name forward to become a batonbearer in the Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton Relay.
The nomination alone left me feeling grateful and more than a little humbled. Seven months later, I received the news that I had been selected. I would carry the Queen’s Baton through South Perth on 24 February 2018 as it made its way towards the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
All I could really say was wow.
When I first started trying to lose weight, become fitter and run a marathon, I had no idea where any of it would lead. Crossing Australia on foot had not been part of the original plan. Neither had the World Masters Games. Carrying the Queen’s Baton certainly had not crossed my mind.
The night before the relay, I laid out the uniform for what I called the best night-before-the-event flat runner photo ever.
The next day I pulled it on, added batonbearer number 031 and carried the Queen’s Baton through South Perth. My son was there to share the day with me.
Afterwards, I could not find the words. The best I could manage was:
Will try to find the words to describe this at a later stage…
Renee had filmed one of the biggest moments of HAA, then helped create another special moment by nominating me for the relay.
Our paths have crossed a number of times over the years: at Canning River parkrun, at parkrun headquarters on the Gold Coast, at Varsity Lakes parkrun and at Kingscliff parkrun. Kingscliff carried its own HAA connection. I had walked through there on the way to the New South Wales-Queensland border, passing a sign for the parkrun before I finally returned to run it.
Carrying the baton was a massive honour. Another experience, another memory, and another friendship that had grown from HAA.