Message with a baton

– Tania Martin
GETTING in to the spirit of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Emerald, Cockatoo and Gembrook residents will take part in a town-by-town mini baton relay on Sunday.
Dubbed as the Cardinia Coverage Day, the event will see townspeople from across the Shire of Cardinia hosting their own mini baton relays through their town before meeting at Cardinia Cultural Centre in Lakeside Drive, Pakenham.
A message for the Australia Commonwealth team has been written by each town and will be passed along with the baton to be presented to the shire later in the day at Pakenham.
Starting at Puffing Billy Park in Emerald at 9am, the baton will be carried along Belgrave-Gembrook Road to Worrell recreation reserve in Belgrave-Gembrook Road, where the relay will conclude.
Following the relay representative carrying Emerald’s message will get on the bus for Pakenham, the bus will then drive to Cockatoo and Gembrook to pick up the representatives from those towns at the end of the relays.
In Cockatoo the baton relay will start at 10.30am at the entrance of the town adjacent to the Emerald-Cockatoo trail where members of the local pony club will take the baton along the trail.
The baton will then be passed to local community representatives to carry up to the Cockatoo Primary School.
Two local young people will then take the message in the form of a poem to the Cardinia Cultural Centre.
The Puffing Billy Track Patrol will start the relay in Gembrook from Fielder Station at 11am and transport the baton to the corner of Belgrave-Gembrook Road and Station Street.
The baton will then be carried through the township to the local pony club and down to Gembrook Park for the completion of the relay.
Arriving at Pakenham at 11.30am each representative from towns across the shire will have the opportunity to present his or her message to shire.
Cardinia residents will then get the opportunity to meet and ask questions of Commonwealth Games athletes Eloise Southby-Halbish and Chris Ciriello.
The day of Commonwealth Games fever will continue with some of the sporting activities that will be highlighted during the Games.