On March 11 the relay begins by leaving Buckingham Palace for Canada and by day forty six it will have reached the selected few from Warrington.

The relay this year will carry the Queen's Golden Jubilee message through twenty four different nations to the opening ceremony in Manchester on 25 July.

The baton has become a huge part of the event much like the torch is at the Olympics. It originally appeared in the 1958 Games in Cardiff, Wales.

Among the two thousand five hundred nominees are nineteen Warringtonians, who have all been chosen to run five hundred metres with the baton four days before the huge event begins.

Two of the nineteen nominees are from the Padgate Gym, Kelly Simcock and Jodie Standish. Kelly has transformed the gym producing young talents, like Jodie, who are achieving national recognition.

The nominees from the Padgate Gym, who will take part in this years Golden Jubilee baton race

Kelly Simcock, aged 23, of Callands, took over the gym in 1997 with the help of her sister Sioban, a talented gymnast who was the best in the country. Young talents like Jodie Standish, aged 10 from Glazebury, joined the gym in the first week of opening.

Initially they had to raise five thousand pounds but they have subsequently raised over six thousand pounds. This has been spent on expanding their range of equipment, they brought two more bars, horse boxes and large mats to allow the girls to reach their full potential.

The money was raised over a period of two years and during this time Kelly and her team of junior coaches developed the squads. They attended summer camps in Durham, went to training weekends in Scotland as well as visiting the larger gyms in Wigan, Bolton and Liverpool, all arranged by Kelly.

The club now has over two hundred members of varying talents from the elite who attend on Tuesdays, to the less talented and disabled children, who attend on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively.

Kelly said, "I am very proud of all of the children, I love coaching and it keeps them of the street where they can cause trouble."

The last accolade the squads won were gold and bronze in the County Novice Team Championships in December and Jodie is the Northwest Beam Champion and the first national finalist from the Padgate Gym Club.

Kelly was nominated for the baton relay by the Parents Committee who assist in the administration side of the gym, whilst Jodie was nominated by Kelly and Gemma Simcock. It came as a surprise to both of them and they both feel very honoured to be representing Warrington.

Kelly said' "I feel very honoured that the parents wanted to nominate me, I do the coaching because ultimately I enjoy it and the kids are always full of energy and enthusiasm, it makes it all worth it."