Queen's Baton Relay bearers unveiled for Wales

Discus and shot put Paralympic medallist Aled Davies will take the baton for part of the relay

Paralympic champion Aled Davies and Commonwealth gold medal winners Kirsty Wade and Michaela Breeze have been named as bearers for the Commonwealth Games' Queen's Baton Relay.

They will be taking part in the Wales leg of the route ahead of the games in Glasgow which start on 23 July.

A former miner who survived the 1960 Six Bells pit disaster is one of the community representatives involved.

The baton relay will be visiting Wales from 24 until 30 May.

In a similar way to the Olympic torch relay in 2012, the baton will be carried on its Welsh leg by a mixture of athletes past and present and people representing their communities.

One of those will be 82-year-old Joseph Price from Abertillery, a former miner who is the last surviving deputy from the Six Bells colliery disaster, which killed 45 men.

He played a pivotal role in rescuing those trapped underground and has spent 40 years raising money for charities in his community.

Mr Price said: "I am honoured to carry the baton on behalf of all the miners that lost their lives in the 1960 disaster, and those that formed part of the rescue effort.

"I love all sports and it is great to be a part of the Commonwealth Games here in Wales."

The baton is visiting 70 countries and territories on its journey through the Commonwealth of Nations.

Mr Price will be one of the first to carry the baton as it makes its way into Wales through Blaenau Gwent to Merthyr on the first day.

Along the route that day, London 2012 Paralympic gold medal winning cyclist Mark Colbourne, from Tredegar, will take over.

The 43-year-old took up para-cycling after breaking his back in an accident at Rhossili beach near Swansea.

'Anything is possible'

On Day 2, weightlifter Michaela Breeze, who won two Commonwealth gold medals in Manchester 2002 and Melbourne 2006 and captained the Wales team in Delhi 2010, takes the baton through Aberdare, where she and a partner have opened a gym.

Paralympic table tennis player and London 2012 bronze medallist Sara Head will take over through her home town of Beddau in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The Queen places her message to the Commonwealth Games in the baton at its launch ceremony

Rhondda swimmer Nyree Kindred, who has scooped 10 Paralympic medals including two golds over four Games, ends the relay for the day.

Triple Commonwealth gold medallist distance runner Kirsty Wade takes over the baton in Llandrindod Wells on Day 3, along with bronze medal-winning bowler Joanna Weale.

The baton will spend Day 3 at the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Bala, Gwynedd, before moving to Carmarthenshire on Day 4 where Scarlets rugby star Lee Williams joins the relay in Carmarthen.

Day 5 sees the baton visit Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion before it crosses to Anglesey and Gwynedd on Day 6, where Paralympic gold medal discus thrower Aled Davies takes over.

Four times Commonwealth medallist Ieuan Owen, 73, from Caernarfon, who also held six British weightlifting titles and was the Welsh champion for 10 years from 1960 to 1970, takes the baton through his home town.

The last day sees the baton go through Denbighshire before leaving Wales.

Chris Jenkins, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, said: "By linking athletes and coaches from past and present back to the communities they came from through the Queen's Baton Relay, we hope that it will inspire the next generation to believe that anything is possible, and that one day they could be a Commonwealth champion bringing their medals home."