Games excitement

THE Queen’s Baton Relay will sweep through Casey and Cardinia this week on its way to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony on 15 March.
Kooweerup residents are expected to be out in force to see the baton on Thursday 2 March. The baton is expected to arrive in Sybella Avenue at 9.42am. It will then be carried up Rossiter Road before stopping for a morning tea break at Kooweerup Secondary College at 9.53 .
Runners will then carry it up Moody, Gardner and Station streets reaching St Johns Catholic Church and school about 10.30am.
It will then go by convoy up to Ballarto Road, before stopping to travel by runner from Cardinia Recreation Reserve to Cardinia Primary School at 10.43am.
Among those who will carry the torch through Kooweerup is town stalwart Ray Brown.
Other locals who have the honour of squiring the baton on its way to the MCG include Pakenham’s Stan Hamilton who will carry the Queen’s message along Southbank.
Officer mum Wendy Boon, who has dedicated her run to son Ryan who died almost two years ago of mucopolysaccharidoses, will carry the baton through San Remo on Thursday morning.
From Cardinia the baton will travel to Cranbourne just after 11am.
The Casey route of the Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay starts at the Casey Indoor Leisure Complex on BerwickCranbourne Road about 11am, passes Cranbourne Primary and Secondary Schools, Cranbourne Public Hall, travels along High Street and Sladen Street past J and P Cam Reserve and Cranbourne Park Primary School.
The baton is then taken by car to Endeavour Drive at approximately 11.45am, passing near St Therese’s and passing Lyndhurst Secondary College, before being driven into the City of Greater Dandenong.
The Queen’s Baton enters Casey from Phillip Island, travelling via Kooweerup and Cardinia, progressing through Cranbourne and Cranbourne North, then on to Dandenong and Mentone, following along Port Phillip to Frankston.
Several highprofile personalities and members of the community have been selected to participate in the relay on the baton’s 21,500km journey across Australia. Relay runners in Casey will be Jessica Abernathy Berwick, Jocelyn Blows Cranbourne East, Lichelle Clarke Cranbourne North, Allyson Croxford Berwick, David Cunningham Cranbourne, John Dunscombe Narre Warren South, and Olivia Stanley of Cranbourne.