The 22-year-old has cerebral palsy and developmental delay however is a gun athlete in his own right, having been selected for the national team to compete at the Special Olympics in Melbourne next month.

Powell excels in running and will contest the 400 metre, 200 metre, 2x400 metre and long jump events.

He has been putting in the hours on the training paddock in between being the water boy for local side the Port Sharks and his coach Mel Cockshutt couldn't be prouder.

"He's a fantastic sprinter, he can really motor and we've been slowly building his endurance up so he doesn't get injured," she said.

"He just seems to be able to keep on going and going. We rode from Port Macquarie to Taree a month ago which was a goal of his and he did that fine."

Powell will also race at the upcoming Challenge Forster event when he returns from Melbourne.

Dan Voight, who competed at the world championship 70.3 at Mount Trembant in Canada, will be his supporter at the Challenge Forster.

"This is all in preparation for Bennett to reach his goal of doing the Ironman next year," Cockshutt said. "He's such a happy, awesome guy who loves being active and I have no doubt he will go well in Forster."

Powell loves to stay active and push himself, with his goal of competing at the Ironman next year not far away.

"Training has been really good," he said. "The Special Olympics will be exciting and I've been doing a lot of sprint training for the Olympics and have been training with Mel on Tuesdays in the ocean water swim and the rest of the week I do riding and running.

"I love that it keeps you fit and healthy and it's a good challenge to yourself and to push your own fitness." Powell is equally as excited for Challenge Forster, which he hopes to simply finish.

"There's only about eight weeks until Forster and I can't wait," he said. "I will try to go there and get relaxed so I can focus on the race. It's my first time in the race and I just want to finish and do a good time for myself."