CAVES BEACH teenager Jye Dinsdale will be Newcastle’s youngest baton bearer when the Queen’s Baton Relay hits town on Saturday, but the 13-year-old is anything but nervous before the big day.
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He’s the youngest of 25 participants who will carry the Queen’s Baton from Honeysuckle to Bar Beach.
The baton is due to arrive by tugboat at Lee Wharf at 7.22am and the relay will take about 90 minutes, winding down Newcastle Foreshore, past Nobbys beach clubhouse, around Shortland Esplanade and up across Memorial Drive to finish at Bar Beach car park.
He might be a junior carrier, but young Jye’s had an influence far beyond his age in the Hunter community.
Recognised as a nominee for the Fred Hollows Award in 2017, he organised multiple fundraisers in Swansea over the past few years, including a benefit which raised over $22,000 for the Mark Hughes Foundation.
“I’m feeling absolutely incredible,” Jye said ahead of Saturday’s relay. “It’s absolutely amazing how it’s almost here. It’s a huge honour, it’s exciting and I’m stoked. [It will] probably be packed, everybody will be here along with my family friends.”
Crowds are expected to line the harbour course for what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Queen’s Baton Relay.
Kurt Fearnley, who passed the baton to the Queen in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace at the relay’s commencement last March, said it will be an equal, but dissimilar experience to carry the baton again.
“I was baton bearer ‘minus-one’ when I carried it down to the Queen,” Fearnley said. “She was baton bearer zero and it went from her to Anna Meares as baton bearer number one.
“It will be nice to be able to get back in there in a different type of uniform, the last time I carried it I was surrounded by strangers and followed by the Queen’s Guard.
“So the thought of being able to carry it through my hometown and be part of the process here is exciting.”
Fearnley, 36, is eight weeks out from competing in the Games and believes Saturday’s relay will allow locals to share in the build up.
“It’s just a nice way to share the excitement in the lead up to the games, I don’t know how many decades it will be before we host a major event like this again,” he said. “So bringing it through Newcastle, it’s a nice way to share that excitement.”
