The Speed Project, running’s wildest race

Out of the ordinary: extraordinary, unusual, rare, offbeat, remarkable, unlike anything else; incomparable, one of a kind, without equal, unmatched, unprecedented. You could add “inimitable” to that list of adjectives that fits The Speed Project perfectly. Born in 2013 in the mind of German creative Nils Arend, the race had its first “official” start in 2014. What makes it such a singular event, beyond the 500 kilometers between Los Angeles and Las Vegas? The Speed Project has no official website, there’s no way to sign up, and there are no set rules for covering the distance between the two American cities. Total freedom: route choice, number of runners, relay format… That’s what makes it unique. Like getting into a selective club in the middle of the night, access comes via a private WhatsApp link. Supposedly, selection comes down to one question: why do you want to run The Speed Project? The link between nightlife and running has everything to do with Arend’s past, after years spent deep in Berlin nights. More on that below…

It’s fascinating that in a world where “underground” culture seems out of fashion, it’s reshaping itself around one of the West’s biggest social obsessions: running. Sometimes compared to Burning Man, the festival held every year in Nevada’s desert, The Speed Project brings together party people, artists, and athletes looking for a certain kind of anarchy, in the sense of a lack of rules. “That doesn’t mean you can break the law, Nils Arend added in a 2021 interview, but the event isn’t officially authorized, there’s no permit. If the police stop you, you just say: ‘We’re a group of friends running to Vegas.’

A race that shouldn’t exist

The Speed Project truly stands out in today’s running landscape. Neither sanctioned nor really permitted, it operates as the opposite of everything we know from big international events. Yet for the runners lucky enough to take part, it’s already become myth. The concept is simple, at least on paper: cover the 500 kilometers between Santa Monica Pier and the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Most teams run it as a relay, typically with six runners, with a van following the group across the desert. But the most important rule is precisely that there are almost no rules. There’s no official course. Each team picks its own route. Some stick to the fastest roads; others go more direct, and more brutal. The only instruction: get to Las Vegas as fast as possible.

The 2026 edition of The Speed Project marked a turning point, especially for the solo format, with a stunning new record set by Brazilian runner Gabriel Bastos Barros, aka Biel to those in the know. The tattooed runner covered the route in 67 hours and 15 minutes, the best performance ever recorded over the distance solo. An artist and ultra-runner based in Berlin, Biel fits the race’s experimental DNA. A winner who was made to put his name on The Speed Project. And a Hoka-backed winner too, proof that underground rarely stays underground for long…

Runners cross desert stretches hammered by heat. They share the road with trucks tearing down endless straightaways, and pass stray dogs out in the nothingness… A one-of-a-kind experience: total freedom in the middle of a wild, unforgiving landscape, a break where everyday rules no longer apply.

Nils Arend, from raves to races

Behind this off-the-map adventure is a character who likes to keep things mysterious: Nils Arend. Born in Germany, Arend moved to California around fifteen years ago. Back then, he barely spoke English and had very little money. To discover Los Angeles, he started running. A lot. His relationship with running began as an act of disobedience: “At boarding school, we’d sneak out at night to party. With my friends, we’d stash running clothes in bushes before we went out. In the morning we’d come back, change, and pretend we’d been out for a run.”

In the U.S., he mostly hung out with surfers and creatives, while working in advertising. After a friend suggested organizing a race, he began his road-running story with a Long Beach–Manhattan Beach run (56 kilometers). “What I loved was crossing different landscapes: industrial ports, the Palos Verdes cliffs, beach towns…” ” Arend says. Then one day he threw out the idea: “ What if we ran all the way to Las Vegas? ” It was 2013, and The Speed Project was born. Six runners lined up for the start. The following year, the experiment returned with more teams. Today, the event draws runners from more than thirty countries. But Arend is determined to protect the race’s original spirit. There’s still no website. No public registration form. No advertising.

So what are we supposed to make of that, coming from a former ad man who worked at multiple agencies in Germany and the United States?

The only way in is through him. Invites spread by word of mouth or on WhatsApp. For Arend, this race isn’t just an athletic challenge. It’s a subculture. A different way of thinking about running. Its punk aesthetic, inherited from his youth organizing raves in abandoned places in Germany, runs through the whole experience. At the start meeting, he welcomes runners in front of a door with blue tape letters that read: “ F--- you and your rules ” And at the pre-race briefing, the vibe is pure Berlin.

An adventure that tells the truth

Every year, runners from around the world answer the call. Seasoned marathoners, influencers, activists, artists… Some show up with performance on the brain, like Biel this year. Others just want to live the thing. But everyone shares the same curiosity: what happens when you run for dozens of hours without sleep. In the desert, fatigue has a way of stripping you down. Silences stretch out. Emotions break through without warning. And then there are those suspended moments that only big journeys can give you: sunrise on an empty Nevada road. Wind rattling across scorching asphalt. The strange feeling of running in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by just a few friends. The American wide-open spaces hold treasures like that, and they keep pulling in anyone chasing a certain kind of freedom.