Fountain Hills High School senior Kolt Brewster competed in the 2014 Tempe Ironman triathlon and, at 18 years of age, he was the youngest participant to actually finish the race.

Hosted on Nov. 15 and taking place all over empe and down the Beeline highway, hundreds of would-be Ironmen hit the water of Tempe Town Lake bright and early in the morning before moving onto the biking portion of the competition and, finally, ended with a nice, long run.

A member of the Fountain Hills High School marching band and center defensive player for the high school soccer team, Brewster said he spends his free time biking around town, playing video games and basically being a normal teenager.

After taking part in the local Mountain to Fountain event a couple of years ago and volunteering at a recent Ironman event, however, Brewster said that it looked like something he might enjoy trying out for himself.

“My dad did two Ironmen in Canada, so that got me interested,” he said.

“It sounded like fun.”

“Fun,” to Brewster, apparently means a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run. The event began at around 6:30 a.m. and spanned the entire day. Brewster said he finished around 11 p.m.

To prepare, Brewster said he trained over the summer, including bike rides out to Rio Verde or McDowell Mountain, runs around town and swimming out in Rio Verde.

Brewster said that, after all of that, he felt prepared once the day of the event came around.

“I wanted to do better on the bike,” he said.

“I feel like I had a decent time on the swim and the run was fine. I just think I could train a bit more and get a better time on the bike.”

Brewster said that it was a little intimidating being surrounded by so many people during the event, especially seeing the pros “tear through the course” and wrap up their event before he was even off of his bike.

“My favorite part was definitely the run,” he added.

“You could interact with other people, which is fun. The supporters are also amazing, coming out to make the event possibly by running the stations, being out in the boats and everything.

“Everyone, whether they know you or not, is supporting you. That’s a really cool thing.”

Out on the course, Brewster said he ran into a guy named Isaac near the end of his run, so the duo decided to finish up the last eight miles together, chatting along the way.

“Having a partner makes everything go a lot faster,” Brewster added.

“You can run, talk and just have a good time. It really makes the miles go faster, because you’re not paying attention to how far you’ve gone or anything.”

While Brewster was the youngest finisher at this year’s Ironman, the oldest was 84, proving that you can never be too young or too old to push your body to the limit.

There’s no telling if Brewster will still be doing these competitions nearly 70 years from now, but he said he definitely plans on tackling an Ironman again.

“It was fun for me. I didn’t care that I was the youngest one to finish. It was just something to do,” Brewster added.

“I’m glad I did it. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.”