Queen's Commonwealth baton to be carried by inspirational Cheshire athlete in Northwich

An inspirational Cheshire-based athlete will be carrying the baton for the Queen’s Baton Relay as it visits Northwich on Sunday (July 17) during its final journey through England this summer for the Commonwealth Games.

Lizzie Tench, who lives near Chester, is a multi-medal-winning Para Triathlete. She was ranked number one in the world during her career.

The Relay began on 7 October 2021, with The Queen placing her Message to the Commonwealth into the Baton, which has now been all around the world.

She said: “I am looking forward to it, It’s going to be a great event and I hope people are going to come out on the streets and celebrate."

Lizzie was formerly ranked number one in her classification in the world for the Para triathlon.

Carrying the baton means a lot to her, she said: “I’m seeing it as a tremendous honour I was selected not just because I was a Commonwealth Games athlete, but because of my voluntary work as well.

“I am a retired athlete now, I was at the Commonwealth Games in the Para triathlon in 2018. So I competed for Team England at Commonwealth Games in 2018 on the Gold Coast.

“And then I was an athlete on the GB Para triathlon team from 2014 to 28. I also competed on GB Para canoeing team in 2015 and 2016.

“Para triathlon is a 750m swim, a 20 kilometre cycle, and for the wheelchair user that’s a hand cycle rather than an ambulant bike that other people would use and then at the end it’s a 5k run but wheelchair users would use a race chair for that.”

Lizzie also competed in two world championships.

She said: “I won a silver and a bronze at the World Championships, I was European champion 2016. I was British Champion four years running from 2014-18. I was Para Triathlon champion, I won some international