Travis Naden's seven-year journey to the New York Marathon only 42km away

Naden is one of nine Indigenous Australians competing in their first marathon as part of Robert de Castella's Indigenous Marathon Project on Monday.

The 28-year-old Wiradjuri man is only miles away from completing his decade-long dream, which was sparked by the documentary Running to America.

The Canberran is now poised to be the fastest runner of de Castella's squad after seven-years of being knocked back.

"I just want to make the most of every opportunity I can," Naden said.

"I saw the documentary made about the first people who came across do the [marathon project] and I was inspired by that.

"They held trials at Lake Burley Griffin and I just kept turning up and I would have kept trialing until the age limit of 30. It's paid off. I'm in New York with a great bunch of people and we're going to do our best.

"But it's not about the running. They say the finish line in New York is the start line, from there that's when you start to make an impact."

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Naden and de Castello's squad have completed four training runs including the Reconciliation Run in Canberra, the Gold Coast Half-Marathon, Sydney's City2Surf and a 30 kilometre time-trial in Alice Springs.

Naden is aiming to complete the marathon in three-and-a-half hours but says "it's definitely scary" and hopes to dig deep in the last 12 kilometres.

"I did well in Alice Springs and I've also done a few 30 kilometre runs around Lake Burley Griffin, I was pretty puffed," Naden said.

"When you hit the [30 kilometre mark] during the race we have to really dig deep and find strength within us to carry on to the last remaining bit.

"Twelve kilometres is an hour-and-a-bit for most of us, so it's going to be tough. I've heard the crowds are awesome here and line the streets.

"I heard the '40 kilometre party' yell at you. If you've got your name on your shirt then they yell it out. I've got goosebumps thinking about that."

The foundation has produced 86 graduates who have gone on to launch the 'Deadly Runner' program in their local communities and continued to participate in marathons around the globe.

De Castella said Naden's commitment to the program has been unquestionable and believes he'll make a difference to the local community when he returns to Canberra.

"He's terrific, I'm really impressed with him," de Castella said.

"As long as he can control his emotions and run a smart race then he'll go really well. I think he'll probably be the first of our runners across the line if he runs to form.

"That's not what our foundation is about, it's really just about using big events like this to show how strong you are, how strong your spirit is and then use that in other areas of life to make a difference - to step up and contribute to a healthy, active and positive lifestyle for our indigenous people."

The 12 athletes have endured six months of vigorous training and undertaken a Certificate IV in Sport and Recreation.

Nine of the twelve runners in this year's squad will compete in New York and the three remaining runners will continue to train before running in the Boston Marathon next year.