Despite being a Rio bronze medallist, and two-time Paralympian, it was the first time the sprinter had experienced it.

"It's really cool to come to the fence after racing and having kids cheering my name, calling out for White Tiger," he said.

"It's not something that I've ever had before racing, so it's really good to see that."

The 30-year-old has been competing at his first Gift over the Easter weekend, and has his name down for four events: the 100 metres novice, the 200m handicap, 70m handicap and the famous 120m handicap.

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Perris was one of only a handful of para-athletes competing at the Victorian event.

"It's not something that I've ever sort of had my eyes on," he said.

"Not many para-athletes get around the Stawell unfortunately. It's something that I think in the future we could get around.

"Handicap races could be a good feature to have a para-race because it could make it a lot more even compared to the Nationals multiclass events, where you've got a field spread over about 20 metres on the finish line.

"That's something that could be exciting, but we'll have to wait and see if that's something that could get legs."

Perris is not focused on his results over the weekend, but he did qualify for the final of the 100m novice event on Monday afternoon.

With a disrupted domestic season, after switching coaches in December to join former Olympian Matt Beckenham's squad, he is still finding his groove.

"I'm really back to enjoying training," he said.

"I fell out of love with training and athletics in general over the last couple of years. And I think a change was needed and I'm really, really excited with it.

"Matt Beckenham and the rest of the training squad has been a really positive change for me, I'm really happy with the move that I've made.

"I'm just going to training and leaving with a smile on my face, which is all that anybody can ask for in a job really."

Canberra teammate Leigh Bennett finished third in the 550m final, and Nick Donaldson will also line up for a final on Monday in the 400m.

Perris has a free calendar in 2022 after the World Para Athletics Championships were scrapped and his classification events were not included in the Commonwealth Games.

He was not surprised about Birmingham, as his events have never featured at the meet, but like the Gift, he hopes in future they will so he can experience Melbourne 2026 in regional Victoria.

"The preps for the [Paris] world championships next year," he said.

"This year is a bit of a nothing year in a way, so it gives us a good chance to knuckle down and train over the winter.

"I'm really looking forward to the hard work that's going to be lying ahead for the next six months or so, and probably looking a little bit less forward to the chilly winter nights and training but, it's going to be a good time."

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