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Photo courtesy of Flavio De Simone In this photo taken by Flavio De Simone, Alpena native Kevin Konczak leads the pack in a recent triathlon.
ALPENA — Alpena native Kevin Konczak finished the 2023 triathlon season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the men’s 50-54 age group by USA Triathlon, the nation’s triathlon governing body.
Konchak’s 2023 season points total of 106.430 also secured him a nomination as an All-American by USA Triathlon.
Konchak currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, but grew up in Alpena.
He moved to Colorado in his mid-twenties to “chase the mountains.”
Now 54 years old, Konczak continues to run, cycle and swim, aiming to reach the pinnacle of his athletic career.
“I’m 54 and the others are around 50,” he said, adding that he will turn 55 in May, moving up to the next age category.
In the 2023 Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Boulder, he ran faster than many young men.
“I was the fastest person until I was 35,” Konczak recalls. “At 54 years old, I thought it wasn’t a bad idea to beat up so many children.”
Konczak ran his first triathlon at Lake Hubbard in the 1990s. His friend Jeff Blumenthal ran a triathlon one year, and Konczak took photos along the route.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is interesting,'” Konczak said. “It’s a weird race. You swim across the lake, then cycle around the lake, then run. It’s just weird.”
As it turns out, Konchak likes weird things.
“I thought, ‘If I train for a year, maybe I can learn how to swim. I didn’t know how to swim, but maybe I could,'” Konczak said. “So I went out and left.”
He was completely hooked.
“It was fun, so I did two the first year, two the second year, and four the third year, but after that the numbers dwindled,” he said. “I just kept getting better and better…It wasn’t uncommon for me to do more than 12 triathlons a year.”
Then he said he joined the Ironman circuit.
“I did triathlons, but I didn’t know what an Ironman was,” Konczak said. “And then I looked into it and thought, ‘Oh, that’s insane.'”
So naturally he had to give it a try.
“So Jeff, my brother and I flew to Hawaii to watch Mark Allen win his sixth and final World Championship,” he said in 1995.
That sparked a fire in his heart, and he has continued to try triathlons ever since.
“So I competed and qualified for the Ironman Hawaii World Championships the following year, which I’ve actually competed in 20 times,” Konczak said.
Ironman is the longest standard distance triathlon. The full Ironman triathlon course totals 140.6 miles, including a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run (full marathon). The Ironman 70.3 event consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run (half marathon).
Konczak’s 2024 season opener will be the Ironman 70.3 North American Championship on May 4 in St. George, Utah, where Konczak is the 2023 North American Champion.
“That just proved to me right there that I got where I wanted to go,” Konczak said.
And he’s still going.
“In May, I will age from 55 to 59,” he added.
Age is a number, but numbers aren’t what he cares about. That number is 1.
When he’s not training, Konczak works three jobs. He works in coaching, real estate sales, and technology. He is also his father and his husband. He finds time for everything.
“I know what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
Iron Man’s life goes well for him.
To view the searchable 2023 rankings, visit member.usatriathlon.org/rankings.
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