It is something Simon Hood will forever treasure.
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Twenty years ago on Monday, just after 5.30pm to be exact, the self-professed sports fanatic experienced what to this day he regards one of the best moments of his life, certainly his sporting life - being an Olympic torchbearer.
"I'll cherish forever, that; carrying the torch," he said.
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The photos from that day still adorn his walls at home while the torch itself is on permanent display, in it's stand, in his room.
Hood was runner No.88 as the relay blazed it's way to Tamworth, his journey taking him from just before the turn-off to the highway on Greg Norman Drive to the Golden Guitar.
"I was shocked when I got the letter, my uncle Col nominated me, which was great," he said. Then 19, his mum and a group of her friends were among those that crammed the kerb along the route to cheer him on.
"To see all those people come out to support me was a wonderful thing," he said.
As for the torch itself, he said it was surprisingly light for the size of it. His biggest problem was maneuvering his wheelchair.
"I'm normally left handed so I carried it in the left hand and I had to transfer the joystick on my wheelchair over to my right hand, so the controlling of the joystick was more of the worry for me than the actual holding of the torch," he recalled.
"A lot of people got a device to put it into their wheelchair, but I said bugger that I'm not doing that, I'm holding it myself."
He was later lucky enough to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, which is up there with carrying the torch for highlights, and go to the first four days of the games.
"That was wonderful just to see them (Paralympics)," he said.
"And the great thing about it was you could get a day pass for eight bucks and you could go to anywhere anytime."
"And you could get really right down close to these athletes as well, which was great."
He saw just about everything. The only sport he didn't get to see that he wanted to was the wheelchair rugby because it was on the last four days.
"It was an amazing experience just to be there and see all the events that we did," he said.
The Tamworth leg of the relay started at 5.03pm on what was a Thursday. Peter Newley was the first runner.
After a community celebration that night, the relay then restarted again on Friday and headed out towards Gunnedah.
