BIG CITY CYNICS BE WARNED;
THIS JOURNEY MAKES YOU FEEL PROUD

And the thousands of spectators who lined the road were the most beautiful people in the world. Mums cheered. Dads whistled. Cameras clicked and kids waved flags as the Victorian city turned out in force to welcome the flame and to share in a historic feel-good occasion.

Everyone wanted to touch the torch, shake the hand and be photographed with the man carrying it. Suddenly I knew how Shane Warne must feel.

The big-city cynics may still not believe it. But everywhere the torch has travelled, since being lit by the sun's rays on Mount Olympia in Greece three months ago, it has brought unexpected light into people's lives.

The fun, feel-good atmosphere was typified a few days ago when an eight-year-old spectator was interviewed over a loudspeaker in a small Victorian town. What did he like about St Arnaud, he was asked.

"Nothing," he replied, to a roar of laughter. It did not matter.

Olympic Yachtswoman, Addie Bucec, carries the Torch along Ryrie St., Geelong, July 29th., 2000.

So why was I carrying the torch? I suppose for services to running and writing, which have been combined on many improbable occasions, such as jogging with President Clinton as well as at four previous Olympics.

And why Geelong? Luck of the draw, but basically because there are more NSW torch bearers than could be accommodated in their home state.

There may have been thousands more worthy torch bearers than me. But surely there was none prouder.

By the time I received the torch from a 14-year-old Geelong girl at 9.3lam, my nobbly knees were quaking. Fortunately, perhaps, my knees were well hidden under the voluminous white puritanical torch bearer's uniform. I swear there was room inside it for the Three Tenors.
As one of the other runners, Tim, explained, "You need to take three steps till you get to the front of the shorts."

Thanks to clandestine practice, sometimes with an old branch, sometimes with an upturned unopened wine bottle, the torch seemed featherlght.

My face I feared became fixed in a big soppy sentimental grin. "Hello Geelong. Hello world. Hello wife."

But no sooner had I picked up the torch than I was handing it over to a 35-year-old Sri Lankan who had left behind his family in the Tamil town of Jaiftia to come to Australia.

My leg was all over so fast. Far too fast. Only later was I told that I'd almost set fire to my hair by holding the torch too low when lighting it from the incoming runner's. In the excitement I'd not even noticed.

How did I feel? Well, as 109-yearold torch bearer Jack Lockett put it a couple of days ago, "It was an amazing thrill. I was proud to be part of it, I was proud of myself'. John Huxley is a senior writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.