THE WRITING ON (AND OFF) THE WALL SPORT BEGINS AT 40.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

Old guys, as the T-shirt slogan proclaims, apparently really do rule. And, in many cases, old gals can outdo them.

"GeezerJocks" seems to be the badge of achievement they've adopted to describe themselves, those well-past-40, baby-boomer- generation athletes with an attitude who've decided that, as long as exercise and science can keep 'em alive and kicking, they'll continue to grab a surfboard over a game of shuffleboard, run ultra-marathons instead of walk through 5Ks or push their way into a pick-up basketball game rather than resort to picking up a golf club and riding an electric cart around a par-3 course.

On one end, there's Wi1lie Gault, the former world-class sprinter-turned-NFL receiver, racing to a 10.72 mark in the 100meters last summer at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to set a Masters record for 45-year-olds. Or Flynn Robinson, the former Lakers backup guard from the 1972 NBA championship team who, at 66, has been spotted playing in Senior Olympic basketball tournament games.

On the other end, there's 82-year-old Johnnye Valien, who has set so many age-group records at National Masters track meets she has stopped counting. She still trains with her track club on weekends at UCLA and competes in events such as the triple jump, pole vault, high jump, 300-meter hurdles and heptathlon.

There's also 50-year-old Bob Crowley.

On Monday, he'll run the Boston Marathon -- twice. At 5a.m., the Weston, Mass., ultra-runner will begin at the finish line and do the 26.2 miles back to the starting line. At 10a.m., when the race officially begins, he'll turn around and run the course again.

Somewhere in between those geriatric goal posts are the dedicated hardly-ever-say-diehards who simply refuse to quit competing, the ones you probably see at the gym every morning with the knee braces, squatting hundreds of pounds, or swimming endless laps despite a recent hip replacement or refusing to leave the racquetball courts because they're still causing a racket.

"It'll blow your mind what the body is capable of if you keep exercising and pushing the limits," says Sean Callahan, editor of GeezerJock magazine, who launched his publication threeyears ago because, after doing so many stories on these kind of athletes for a suburban Chicago newspaper, he seized the opportunity to feature these masters of their own domain on a regular basis. "You see people powerlifting in their 60s, bench pressing 500pounds, climbing Mount Everest, finishing Ironman Triathlons ... they're proving that staying in shape keeps you more productive, gives you more energy and keeps you working and socializing without just fading away and giving up sports."

Callahan, a 42-year-old who plays golf and basketball but was inspired to take up training for triathlons, says he and a partner stuck with the name GeezerJock for the magazine because that's what the athletes interviewed kept calling themselves, "knowing it was funny, but also deadly serious about what they were doing. They're the types who really don't care what others think about them. They tend to be free-thinkers, mavericks who stay out of the mainstream. And as this generation continues to move forward, there are more and more of them to cover."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 120 million Americans 40 or older in 2000. Twenty years from now, it'll be about 160 million.

"The bottom line is that older-age group sports isn't some cute niche that crosses the media radar every few years," says Ken Stone, editor of the SanDiego-based Web site MastersTrack.com, an extensive resource for athletes older than 40. "The market will reflect this as the pig in the python makes it way through the years."

GeezerJock magazine, as a result, has been wise to establish a bigger beachhead in California, where paradise conditions lend themselves to a Fountain of Youth mentality for nearly every type of graying athlete.

The 50,000-circulation publication provides more than healthy competition for magazines such as Men's Health, Runners World or others that have barely dented this demographic with a high threshold for withstanding pain.

"My belief is that boomers are demanding sports opportunities at all levels, from city recreation departments to the IAAF," Stone says, noting that at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays today, the trend of staging four Masters exhibition events will continue. "I just think Masters sports is becoming less a novelty. I love to point out how the M-word is becoming commonly used."

That's seems to be a very mature way of looking at it.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1) JACKIE ROBINSON

(2) ZACH JOHNSON

(3) DON IMUS

(4 -- 6) no caption (magazines: geezerlock)

Box:

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