The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has revealed the design of the Queen’s Baton and details of the epic journey for the 16th Queen’s Baton Relay.

The baton will feature an updated design inspired by the city of Birmingham, the Queen and a celebration of diversity of the Commonwealth Games.

Known as the Queen’s Baton Relay, the event is held before the Games and begins on October 7 2021 at Buckingham Palace.

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The Queen's baton, containing Her Majesty's message to the Commonwealth, will be transported across 72 Commonwealth nations before returning to England in July 2022.

This colossal journey will last 294 days connecting communities from across Commonwealth in the build up to the Games.

Collaborators in the baton's unique design include Product designers and engineers Raymont-Osman Product Design, design and development specialists Kajul and Coventry-based MAOKWO, headed up by artist Laura Nyahuye.

Left to right: Karen Newman Founder & Director Birmingham Open Media, Tom Osman Director of Raymont-Osman Product Design, Laura Nyahuye Artist and CEO of MAOKWO, Karl Hamlin Managing Director of Kajul.

The design:

Lining the length of the Baton is a platinum strand, paying homage to The Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year, as well as her role as the Head of the Commonwealth.

The Baton has been cast using accessible, non-precious metals of copper, aluminium and brass to represent the bronze, silver and gold medals .

By using aluminium forged using the traditional method of lost wax casting in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, the Baton has uses local craftsmanship that gives Birmingham its reputation as the city of a thousand trades.

Baton bearers will also see LED lighting and a heartrate sensor that displays the heartbeats of holders.

The lighting also changes when two people grip the Baton during handover, celebrating collaboration and the sharing of wisdom between young and old.

It will also remarkably contribute to scientific research as the Baton also has ‘lungs’.

These consist of atmospheric sensors with laser technology that analyses the environmental conditions wherever it is in the world.

Augmented Reality (AR) will be used to visualise the data captured throughout the journey to raise awareness of air quality across the Commonwealth.

The data will contribute to the ongoing research projects being conducted by atmospheric scientist Professor Francis Pope and his team at the University of Birmingham.

Fitted with a 360-degree camera, the Baton also has ‘eyes’, and a ‘brain’ which records and transmits imagery and digital information.

Local and established athletes try out the practise track. Left to right Laura Muir, Amy Harland, Sophia Deans and Kadeena Cox.

The Journey:

This technologically impressive baton will then start it's journey through Cyprus, Malta, Africa, the volcanic island of Saint Helena, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

It will then travel to South East Asia through Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Nauru.

New Zealand will host the Baton on Commonwealth Day during a visit in March, before four days in Australia.

The Baton will spend two months travelling around the Caribbean and Americas, including visits to The Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados, and reaching the islands of St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

From here it will head to Canada before visiting Gibraltar.

Olympic gold medal winning gymnast Max Whitlock launches the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games National Ticket Ballot at The Bullring, Birmingham

After stopping off at the Falkland Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man in June, the Relay will have an extended duration of five days in Scotland, four in Northern Ireland, five in Wales and 25 days covering the length and breadth of England.

The global journey will conclude at the Birmingham 2022 Opening Ceremony where the final Baton bearer will return the Baton to Her Majesty The Queen.

Laura Nyahuye, Artist and CEO at Maokwo said: “Coming into this project as an artist, mother, and advocate who is passionate about social justice for with women, migrants, and young people, was an intense yet enlightening experience.

"Bringing in Maokwo's young people with links from the Commonwealth countries, my heritage, design and concept, weaving in textures and storytelling, into the Baton design was crucial, as well as instigating honest conversations around the Commonwealth countries.

"My prayer is the Baton creates a rhythmic heartbeat of peace, love, and a hunger to connect beyond our skin tones and ethnicities."

The technology within the Baton is the work of BOM (Birmingham Open Media), a leading centre for art, technology and science in central Birmingham.

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