Courtesy Photo Alpena native Kevin Konczak leads the pack running in a recent triathlon in this photo taken by Flavio De Simone.

ALPENA — Alpena native Kevin Konczak ended the 2023 triathlon season ranked first in the nation, by the U.S. triathlon governing body, USA Triathlon, in the men’s 50 to 54 age group.

Konczak’s 2023 season point total of 106.430 also secured him an All-American designation by USA Triathlon.

Konczak currently lives in Boulder, Colo., but grew up in Alpena.

He moved to Colorado when he was in his mid-20s to “chase the mountains.”

Now 54, Konczak is still running, cycling, and swimming his way to the top of his athletic career.

“I’m 54, and all these other guys are, like, 50,” he noted, adding that he’ll be 55 in May, moving up to the next age category.

In the 2023 Ironman 70.3 triathlon held in Boulder, he ran faster than many younger men.

“I was the fastest guy, all the way down to 35 years old,” Konczak recalled. “I thought, for a 54-year-old, beating all these kids … that’s not bad.”

Konczak ran his first triathlon at Hubbard Lake in the 1990s. His friend, Jeff Blumenthal, ran the triathlon one year, and Konczak took pictures along the route.

“I got thinking, ‘Wow, this is interesting,'” Konczak said. “It’s a weird race. You’re swimming across the lake, and then you bike around it, then you run. That’s just weird.”

Turns out, Konczak likes weird.

“I wondered, ‘If I train for a year, learn how to swim — I didn’t know how to swim — I probably could do it,'” Konczak said. “So, I went out, and I did.”

He was hooked.

“That was fun, so I did two my first year, two my second year, four my third year, and then I lost count after that,” he said. “It just grew … It wasn’t uncommon for me to do a dozen-plus triathlons” in a year.

He said then he got into the Ironman circuit.

“I had been doing triathlons, but I didn’t know what Ironman was,” Konczak said. “And, then, I looked into it and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s insane.'”

So, naturally, he had to try it.

“So, Jeff, my brother, and I flew out to Hawaii, and we watched Mark Allen’s final sixth win at the world championships,” in 1995, he noted.

That sparked a fire within him, and he’s been competing in triathlons ever since.

“So, I went out, and then, the next year I qualified for Ironman Hawaii World Championships, and I’ve actually qualified for it 20 times now,” Konczak said.

An Ironman is the longest standard-distance triathlon. A full Ironman triathlon totals 140.6 miles, including a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run (a full marathon). Ironman 70.3 events consist of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike, and a 13.1-mile run (a half-marathon).

Konczak’s 2024 season-opening race will be the Ironman 70.3 North American Championships, on May 4, in St. George, Utah, where he was the 2023 North American Champion.

“That, kind of, proved it, right there, that I got where I wanted to go,” Konczak said.

And he’s still going.

“I’m aging up to the 55 to 59 age group, in May,” he added.

Age is a number, but it’s not the number he’s concerned with. That number is one.

When he’s not training, Konczak works three jobs. He coaches, sells real estate, and works in technology. He’s also a father and husband. He finds time for it all.

“I know what works, and what doesn’t work,” he said.

The Ironman life works for him.

To view the searchable 2023 rankings, visit member.usatriathlon.org/rankings.