UKC

I'm thinking about racing a 50 mile race this September, though having looked at the statistics for people who have signed up for the race the average age seems to be about 40, and I'm 21. Can you be "too young" to run an ultra, for instance am I more likely to get injured as I haven't been running for as long as an older person, or is it just that fewer young people actually want to?
Thanks

In reply to Benjamin95:

You can be, but the odd one won't hurt. There are some top US ultra runners your age and younger.

Plenty are mid to late 20's, most 30-45 I'd guess...

You may be more likely to get injured, but it also does affect your pace.. do you still have short distance PRs you want?

A 50 miler isnt super long though, if it's a runnable one, which one is it?

My first was 22, I got 81 miles into the WHW and quit a broken man, went back in 2004 (24) finished, but slowly got bitten, but do wish I'd have concentrated on shorter distances when I was younger...

My advice, if you do it, is build up slowly, don't go over Marathon distance/50k in training and back right off afterwards and allow a long thorough recovery.

In reply to Benjamin95:
I watched this program once on this Indian multiple marathon runner, i don't remember the detail but he'd have given Forrest Gump a run for his money, I think he was 10.

In reply to Benjamin95: What do you normally race? I don't see why you can't do it but it won't help you if you're interested in normal racing.

In reply to wbo:

I normally race sprint triathlons and cross country, but I'm not really in it to win it, I just enjoy the training and racing so I don't mind if my short distance stuff gets a bit slower.

In reply to Benjamin95:

Well just be very aware that it will stuff your legs up for a while so your training and racing will suffer a bit afterwards. I don't think its going to kill you , but I think that if you 'train for it' , it's time you won't be spending training for speed for your primary events.

If you enjoy racing and training I can't believe you are going to not be annoyed by going backwards in speed. What's the longest race (in time) that you've ever done?