I made a gnome alt and ran the race. I started at level 1, and leveled twice and died once. The buff you get if you die during the race is pretty neat.
I only saw one other player the entire time, and that was a night elf in Duskwood, running the other way.
You can be any race and any level. Higher levels tend to escort lv 1s to protect them. There’s a mini Blizz run that goes all day in addition to the original run that people are mentioning that happens at a specific time.
I just want to know if everyone participating on Scarlet Crusade’s event should be a gnome. Because of role-playing expectations. My void elf would be riding her pink mount, and get the transmogs as pink as possible, but she would still be an elf, not a gnome. The event is called the Running of the Gnomes.
They usually make a post about it but I don’t see one for this year. Here’s last year’s. I think for joining one of the guilds you need to be a gnome and like Straiso said most people are pink haired gnomes.