A pizza night was held recently at the Bodalla Local Aboriginal Lands Council building utilising the new pizza oven built by local potter and tandoor chef Cameron Williams of Riverside Pizza.

Of course the classic New York slice was on offer and more than $900 was raised to help towards getting Wade equipment and transport for and to the big event.

Wade thanked his local Bodalla supporters Cameron Williams and Ben Stainer, who organised the fund-raiser, as well as Narooma High School, the Bodalla CWA branch, the Bodalla and Narooma RFS brigades and all the locals who generously donated and came together for pizza. 

Wade was one of  just 12 Aboriginal men and women from across Australia selected for the 2016 Indigenous Marathon Project squad, which will run the New York Marathon later this year.

Aged just 19, he beat out a record number of nearly 200 applicants and just happens to be the youngest in the squad.

But that shouldn’t stop this young athlete from performing, as he is super fit and can be seen running along the Princes Highway from his hometown of Bodalla as far as Moruya and Narooma.

Wade and the 2016 squad met for the first time in Canberra on May 11 for their first training camp, which included training sessions and the first units of their education component, aimed at assisting with employment in health related fields.

Athletes will be pushed to their limits throughout the year as they participate in camps and running events in the Gold Coast, Sydney and Alice Springs. 

The final squad to travel to New York in November will be announced following a 30 kilometre time trial in Alice Springs in September.