Olympic memories

COEUR d'ALENE - A half mile isn't all that long.

Takes 30 seconds if you're driving a car at 60 mph.

Try about 2 minutes if you're a really, really fast runner.

And perhaps 10 minutes if you're walking.

And if you're jogging while carrying a Olympic torch? Kane Gunter isn't sure how long it took.

"It was over before you knew it," he said.

But the man from England knows this: It was incredible and he will never forget it.

"There was screaming, shouting, I was enjoying it all," said Kane, who was in North Idaho this month visiting his fiancee. "Even the police joined in."

The 47-year-old from Knutsford, a town in the area of Cheshire East, was one of 8,000 "inspirational people" chosen from 28,000 nominees to carry the flame on its 70-day journey across the United Kingdom.

Torchbearers carried the flame 8,000 miles through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages, from its start at Land's End on May 19 to the finish at the Olympic Stadium in London on July 27.

Kane called it a "surreal kind of thing" when he learned he was chosen. He first believed it was a prank call.

"It took 10 minutes to persuade me it was real," he said, laughing, during a phone interview with The Press.

Once he believed, would he do it?

Hell yes. Who wouldn't accept this chance of a lifetime?

"It's a unique thing," Kane said. "It's never going to happen again."

The website, london2012.com, reported this about Gunter among its brief descriptions of each torchbearer.

"Medically discharged from the Army, partially disabled and in community housing, run over by a truck and miraculously survived. Since has put his spare time & energy into a number of voluntary projects: Community Liaison Officer for Community Spirit (Longridge, Knutsford), Community Rep for Great Places Housing scheme & on the Knutsford Town Plan Committee, Royal British Legion caseworker, Help for Heroes Fundraiser, pr & media for Project Noel."

Gunter said he prepared for his turn with the torch while visiting North Idaho earlier this year. He was treated at Lakeland Physical Therapy by Mike Bailey, and worked out at the Kroc Center.

Gunter, who flew back to England on Monday, still feels the effects of the accident five years ago when he was on a road bike that was hit by a truck. His legs were crushed and he suffered head and neck injuries.

"I'll have problems the rest of my life," he said.

Nothing he can't overcome.

Gunter was torchbearer No. 42. He carried the flame through Macclesfield on a rainy May 31.

It's hard, he said, to put it in words how he felt when a convoy of cars, trucks and security detail came toward him as he waited for the arriving runner to light his torch and keep the flame moving.

He moved steadily, slowly, savoring each step.

The torch is a symbol of not what he did. It was about a spirit, he said. It was about different people coming together with a similar goal - to be their best.

"These things never are about a single person," Gunter said.

Gunter, unable to attend any of the Olympic games, is engaged to a Rathdrum resident. He'll return to the U.S. next year, when they plan to wed.

Torchbearers could buy their torch for either 200 pounds the day they carried it, or 250 pounds later. Gunter's was purchased by a sponsor on his day to run and presented it to him.

But it's not his to keep, he said.

He plans to present the torch to the Knutsford Heritage Center, where it will be displayed.

"I really don't feel it's just mine," he said. "I feel very proud, not just for me, but for the achievements of everyone together."