A Wodonga teenager who hopes to one day represent his city and country at the Olympics is this month's winner of council's Young Achiever Scheme award.
Elite scooter rider, Ned Butters, has received $400 to help him travel to the recent Australian Scooter Association National Titles in Melbourne, where the talented 13-year-old came second in Australia in his age division.
The award was presented to Ned by Wodonga Mayor, Kev Poulton, at the May council meeting.
"Ned is a young man with amazing talent and an admirable dedication to his sport, making him a more than worthy winner of this month's award," Cr Poulton said.
"We're really pleased to take this small step towards helping Ned achieve his dreams and we're looking forward to seeing him go from strength to strength as he develops his passion."
The year 8 student at Tallangatta High School trains for at least two hours every day and competes every weekend.
He has his mum, Bec, to thank for that. She takes Ned to meetings every weekend, sometimes travelling for two hours or more to get to competitions.
While Ned would like to "ride all day", his mum only lets him on to the scooter if all of his schoolwork is up to date - a requirement he's happy to meet.
Ned's dream is that scooter riding will become an Olympic sport and that he'll one day compete on the world's biggest stage for his country.
With that dream helping to keep him inspired, Ned continues to compete at high levels, and hopes to just keep getting better and better.
