Meet Britain's oldest running team inspiring the next generation to go the distance

Altra, the American footwear brand, has unveiled The Legacy Team, Britain's oldest running team with a combined age of 321, to share a lifetime of running wisdom with the next generation of runners.

Created by Brandnation, the campaign sees the four runners, aged 75 to 85, pass on a lifetime of experience to runners in their twenties and thirties, helping them build the habits that will keep them running for decades. 

The team has been photographed by renowned British portrait photographer Rankin, whose subjects include David Bowie, Madonna and Queen Elizabeth II, creating portraits that present them as role models for a new generation of runners.

The campaign responds to new research commissioned by Altra, which found that the average British runner stops at just 39.

Of those who have stopped, one in three quit because of injury. More than half of runners have suffered a setback serious enough to keep them out for three months or more, and one in six say they have never fully recovered.

Most young runners have no framework for thinking about running over the long term. 

The Legacy Team aims to give them one, starting with The Long Run, a free book of the team's running wisdom designed to help young runners put their best foot forward, available later in the year.

The Legacy Team

The Legacy Team includes Peter Giles, 82, the country's fastest octogenarian over 5km, and Rajinder Singh MBE, 79, who has been running since his childhood in India, has completed marathons around the world and is recognised as the oldest runner in the Sikh community.

They are joined by Laurence Cummings, 85, who holds 204 age-category parkrun records across England and Scotland, and Pritpal Kaur, 75, the oldest British Asian woman to complete this year's London Marathon, while living with blood cancer, and one of only 35 women over 75 to cross the line.

"Many young runners overtrain and overcomplicate everything," said Giles. "Whatever your age, it's important to build good habits. I'd advise you to listen to your body. I often talk to mine during a run and this helps guide each session." Kaur added: "Be kind to your body and your body will be kind to you. Running helps us physically and mentally. It gives back so much, and it's free."

Rob Herdman, marketing director at Altra, said: "Last year, our team spent a lot of time at races across the UK, and we kept finding ourselves inspired by the same people. Not necessarily the fastest runners or those standing on the podium, but the runners in their seventies and eighties who were still out there doing something they loved. Every time we saw them, we'd say the same thing: 'I want to be like that when I'm older.'

"That simple thought became the inspiration for this campaign. The Legacy Team is a celebration of runners who show what's possible and a reminder that the choices we make today can shape whether we're still running thirty or forty years from now."
The campaign will run across PR, social, retail and events over the coming months, taking The Legacy Team and The Long Run to young runners and running communities across the UK.

All images supplied by Brandnation, image credit: Rankin.