By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Thirteen over-40 athletes from Hawai'i have proved that you're never too old to compete. They have brought 28 medals home from the U.S. National Masters Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. It's the best Hawai'i has ever done.

We don't normally think of people in their 60s participating in Olympic events. The people who do so are a select few, like Olympic athletes, and are just as serious about it as the young champions you see on television.

Ron Pate, an insurance broker and high-school track coach, won three gold medals in the 55- to 59-year-old division of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the 8-kilometer run and the 800-meter relay.

He has access to his own sports chiropractor, an orthopedic surgeon, a physical therapist, a sports masseuse and a urologist. In addition, the athletic department at the University of Hawai'i gives him scraps of tape for wrapping sore muscles.

"That's kept me going," he said. "Without that, there would be no gold medals."

Jack Karbens, 61, a CPA and professor of accounting at Hawai'i Pacific University, said weekend warriors don't make it in serious competition. "When you're over 30 years old, you have to train all year," he said. Some of the athletes do it by running marathons even though it's not their event.

Lionel Low, a real-estate broker and a jumper, has competed in 25 marathons.

Pate has run 18 marathons to stay in condition.

Karbens has run in 11 marathons although he's not primarily a runner.

In Eugene he won the gold in his age division of the pentathlon, an event that consists of the long jump, javelin, 200-meter dash, discus and 1,500-meter run. After he finished, he competed in eight more individual events: 300-meter hurdles, hammer throw, triple jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, discus throw and javelin, plus the 4x400 meter relay.

He said the big danger for people his age in competitive meets is injury caused by over-enthusiasm and lack of conditioning.

That's why Sai Ching, 61, a runner and import-export merchant, was not going to make the trip. But his friends twisted his arm. To his surprise, he won the gold in the 400 meters for the 60-64 age division and took the silver in the 200 meters.

Low chimed in: "His time was 58.58 seconds in the 400 meters. This win ranks him first in the nation."

Low was a two-time national champion in the triple jump but an injury has slowed him down. This time he came in third in the triple jump and third in the high hurdles.

Hawai'i veteran Geoff Howard, 65, won the most medals, four. The smallest athlete in the group was Angie Miyashiro, 50, a schoolteacher from Hilo, Hawai'i, who weighs about 80 pounds and stands 4 feet, 10 inches. She was a gold medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter runs.

In 2004 the Masters Track & Field Championships will be held in Honolulu.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.