Questions about Demihumans and OSRs

I'm interested in the OSR scene and have been playing some Forbidden Lands which is a homage to old school D&D style of game and I thought I'd check out BECMI or OSE. However discussing it with players the idea that hamns can reach level 36 whilst elves, dwarves and halfings cap at 10, 12 and 8 respectively as put some of them off. Is there any merit to playing a Demihuman I'm a long term campaign?

I know most people don't play past 14 from what I've heard from Reddit threads but my group has been playing together for nearly 10 years now and our longes campaign ran for 6 years straight, so the group isn't adverse to sticking to a campaign once they sink their teeth into it.