IF YOU'VE walked the streets of Warwick, chances are you've seen the smiling face of John Telfer around.

That smile was made 100 times bigger yesterday, when Mr Telfer was announced as a baton bearer for the 2018 Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay.

Mr Telfer said he was overjoyed to be tasked with the job of holding the baton during the prestigious procession.

"Its a great honour for myself and my family,” Mr Telfer said.

"To have my family see me do it will be great, as it will be to represent Warwick. It's a great opportunity.

"I was shocked when I first found out, and I had to check it a few times to make sure it was real.

"My wife was ecstatic when I told her.”

Mr Telfer maintains a level of fitness that would put young adults to shame, stemming from a stellar sporting background.

"I swim 50 laps a day at the pool, and I do plenty of walking around town,” he said.

Mr Telfer entered in a total of 17 marathons over the journey, including heading to London to compete with the Australian veterans.

He has also competed at a high level, including at the 1994 Masters Games in Brisbane, where Mr Telfer ran the final component of the triathlon event, helping his group earn a second placing.

"I ran the last 8km, but it turned out I had a stress fracture in my leg which I didn't know about until after,” he said.

"It was painful for the first kilometre, but the numbness came.

"There was no way I wasn't going to finish.”

A love of research and the legend of the Anzac spirit has seen Mr Telfer rewarded with the Southern Downs Australia Day Cultural Award in 2013 and 2016, as well as recently completing a 300-page book on the Warwick RSL sub-branch.

"Around 14 months of intense research went into piecing it together,” he said.

"The debt we owe the Anzacs should never be forgotten, which is why it is so important to keep it alive through story and ceremony.

"Tens of thousands that lost their lives in atrocious conditions at war, and we want the youth to appreciate what they did.

"There are some powerful stories from war.”