Ageless athletes

"I just took to it," she says. Only three weeks later, she entered a local race and placed third in her age group. She was hooked. Now she enjoys carrying on a long-distance rivalry with another runner her age on the West Coast, but she says she's not obsessed with winning. "It's not a mean kind of competition," says the professor of mathematics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. "It's a fun kind."

The deep commitment evident in athletes such as Michelsohn and McManus hasn't translated into a boom in senior track and field, Mathews says. The number of people participating in USATF masters track and field has grown only by "single digits" per year at a time when millions of baby boomers have entered the over-40 age group.

He blames the limited growth on a lack of publicity, the popularity of long-distance road racing such as marathons, which siphon off athletes (the longest running event at the masters indoor meet was 3,000 meters), and perhaps, most of all, a misapprehension that only cutthroat competitors need apply.

"That emphasis is hurting us," he says. "We have gotten a reputation as being almost elitist."

Former distance-running stars Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson brought glamour and press coverage when they ran at the Boston masters event. But these legends of road racing might also cause potential participants to shy away, Mathews says, thinking, "That ain't me."

Few people see it that way, but track and field "is a lifetime sport," says Mathews, who lives near San Diego and at 59 competes in the hammer and weight throws.

After attending St. Johns University in New York on a track scholarship, he took 23 years off before discovering that track and field competitions for older Americans existed. He now trains five days a week, year-round, and competes locally and nationally. He hopes that more track clubs for seniors can be started, so that members can encourage and train with one another and, in more competitive groups, get professional training.

One idea for the future is to hold meets where clubs compete against each other (all competitions now are among individuals) so athletes can enjoy a team experience similar to what they had in high school or college.

Top masters athletes, even some over 65, would be competitive at many high school or college meets, but a big gap remains between their performances and that of top collegians and pros. In Boston, Anna Wlodarcyzk, a 52-year-old from Orange, Calif., set a world record for her age group in the triple jump at 10.69 meters, prompting a college coach to remark that she'd be happy to recruit her for her team.

But the mark is still far off the American women's record of 14.23 meters.

Though age-group records continue to fall impressively, "the people doing that are a small number" of the total membership, Mathews says. Most senior athletes stay with track and field to achieve their personal goals and enjoy friendships.

"I don't do this to break records," he says. People can be just as fanatical about playing golf, he points out. "We're just a little more unique. There are a lot more golfers out there."

Unique is certainly the word. Some people would not expect to see a 101-year-old walking a golf course under his own power. But Everett Hosack from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, who's that age and the oldest athlete in USATF history, does something more strenuous. At Boston he competed in the 60-yard dash and shot put.

"I laid off [track and field] for 50 years from the time I was 30 to 80," Mr. Hosack says. Now he goes running every day at 4 p.m. - "if there isn't snow on the track." Last year he competed in the prestigious Penn Relays, and in April he demonstrated his shot-putting prowess on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Hosack also has a dry wit. Asked what he likes most about competing, he replies, "I usually walk away with a gold medal." When told what an inspiration he is, he answers, "That's what most people say."

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