In pictures: Queen's Baton Relay in Southampton
- Published
James Saunders, 45, who lives in West End, helped develop the parkrun initiative in Southampton for both adults and juniors. Since July 2012 the event has seen weekly participation numbers grow from 240 to more than 550.
Iwan Thomas, who lives in Southampton, represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 in the 400m. He is now retired but still holds the 400m Commonwealth Games record with a time of 44.36 seconds set in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur.
Steven Way, who will be competing in the marathon event, was once an overweight smoker until he lost about six stone. He said: "It's been a journey for me, from being a very unhealthy, unfit man to being selected for the Commonwealth Games."
Children from seven different schools were at the Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre to see the baton and take part in a TRYathlon - which gave them an opportunity to have a go at a few of the 17 Commonwealth sports.
Chris Granger (left) has coached junior and senior netball teams in Southampton since 1976 and James Cartwright has been instrumental in the development of the "Team Solent Sharks", a wheelchair rugby club in the city.
Chris Granger said: "I started off with seven mums who wanted to start a netball team and we’ve evolved from there to all levels - the very juniors up to the regional level. Netball is in my blood and I love it - it’s just a fantastic sport."
Sally Gunnell won the 1992 Olympic gold in the 400m hurdles. She is the only female British athlete to have won Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles.
- Published4 June 2014
- Published4 June 2014
