[WBC]

This reminds me of my childhood spent in communism when they organised a similar relay every year for our Great Leader's birthday. Instead of torch they carried some sort of hollow "stick" with a happy birthday message inside of it. The design of the stick was different every year and it was held secret until the few days before the relay, when it was unveiled on the national news. This thing was a really big deal with media coverage and everything, culminating in handing over of the said stick to the said Dear Leader in a giant stadium. I was 5 when the last of these events happened as the Dear Leader died. I always remember all those people on the stadium doing their dance routines and thinking - wow this is incredibly gay (well truly, I was 5 then and I did not know that phrase exactly - but that would be the closest equivalent).