It鈥檚 4 A.M. on Thanksgiving weekend and an experiment is taking place.

At a skatepark on the edge of the Pacific port city of Iquique, in northern Chile, fifteen teams of six runners are about to embark on the inaugural edition of (TSP) Atacama, a 300-plus-mile relay race climbing over 11,000 vertical feet through salt flats, canyons, abandoned highways, and active mines, battling extremes of heat and cold, to finish in the desert oasis of San Pedro de Atacama.

The race is invite-only. Each team must be self-sufficient, driving themselves and sleeping when they can. There are no spectators. No cell reception. Few gas stations. No fixed route. No fixed relay hand-off points. No rules on how far each team member must run, or how often they can be subbed back into the race.

In short, there are no rules other than to get to the finish line as quickly as you can.

With the sunrise still two hours off, Nils Arend, a lithe 43-year-old, leads the gathered runners in a expletive-filled call-and-response chant, and with whoops and cheers the runners embark on their pre-planned routes through the sleeping city, and on towards the waiting desert.

A Competition, Loosely Held

Arend, a Hamburg-to-Los Angeles transplant, cofounded The Speed Project with trainer and running legend Blue Benadum in 2013. For that first iteration (and the eight subsequent installments, including one in March of this year), they pioneered a 340-mile route from the Santa Monica pier, through the Antelope Valley, passing Barstow, Baker, and Death Valley National Park, and ending at the Las Vegas welcome sign on Route 160.

The idea was to serve up an antidote to both too-serious ultras and weekend fun runs that encourage participants to don costumes and pound beers along the route. The Speed Project would fall somewhere between the two, attracting the best runners in the world but remaining unsanctioned, with a think-on-your-feet mentality as runners adapt to unexpected changes and innovative shortcuts. Crucially, for all its unpredictability, The Speed Project would be fun.

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鈥淭here鈥檚 real beauty in the idea of traveling somewhere on foot and doing it as part of a like-minded close circle,鈥� says Arend, who became the sole organizer as family commitments took more of Benadum鈥檚 time.

Despite its underground, unsponsored ethos, TSP has grown into a monster. This March, 500 participants grouped into 60-plus teams and gathered to take part in the original race, known as The Speed Project LALV. Atacama would be an opportunity to grow the race internationally while also returning it to its roots.

The idea came about during lockdown, when 鈥楾SP DIY鈥�, a do-it-yourself version of the race, asked remote teams to cover as much distance as they could in 1 day, 7 hours, and 15 minutes (referring to the TSP LALV course record set in 2019).

For Chilean running club Maffetones (MAFFS), it was an opportunity to explore the team鈥檚 backyard, eventually covering 264 miles of the Atacama Desert and placing them in the top ten of more than 160 DIY teams participating around the globe.

鈥淚 think this is going to be a bit rougher than in the States. Everything here is more wild,鈥� says Max Keith, a 34-year-old MAFFS runner who couldn鈥檛 resist the chance to run this year鈥檚 TSP Atacama as one of seven solo runners.

鈥淟A to Las Vegas has its own craziness, but we felt it was time to take the conceptual backbone and offer something a notch up in terms of adventure,鈥� adds Arend. 鈥淭he rawness of the landscapes and our connection with MAFFS led us to choose Chile. Atacama is about dialing up the extremes.鈥�

Racing to Another World

The Atacama desert begins in the lower slopes of the Andes Mountains, stretching westward over 41,000 square miles. Its average annual rainfall is just six tenths of an inch, making it the world鈥檚 driest non-polar desert. Aside from active gold, silver, and copper mines, parts are so bereft of life that they鈥檙e used by NASA to test Mars lander missions.

The TSP route traces 37 miles of coastline before entering a scenic canyon climb emerging onto a 25-mile stretch of rollercoaster hills leading into a wind-blasted flat. Then, 137 miles in, the route takes an off-road detour before climbing to 9,500 feet above sea level. After the inevitable downhill, there鈥檚 another long, windy stretch before a 25-mile climb to over 11,000 feet. Finally, it鈥檚 a six-mile downhill before a final three-mile ascent to the finish line, signified by a 30-foot white cross on a cliff overlooking the desert tourist town of San Pedro.

Cloaked by the cool of the night, the first two hours out of Iquique passed uneventfully, except for a local street dog nicknamed Diego following runners for some 12 miles before hitching a ride back to town. As the race progressed, packs of free-roaming desert dogs prompted runners to catch short rides in their support cars. This was not unexpected. Runners were advised to carry pepper spray.

The more persistent adversary, however, was the heat. The temperature in Atacama tapped out at a relatively mild 68 degrees Fahrenheit during this year鈥檚 race鈥攍ess than half the maximum temperatures during the summer months of January to March.

鈥淭he sun was something special, I felt like I was going to burst into flames,鈥� says Alex Roudnya, one of five solo runners who traced the same route four days before the relay teams departed. 鈥淚 was lying on the floor in any shade I could find. Emotionally and mentally it felt like I had aged a zillion years.鈥� Roudnya finished in fifth place after five days, 1 hour and 25 minutes of toil.

At night the temperature dropped to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike the LALV race, where teams drive RVs, the inhospitable terrain of the Atacama necessitated ex-mining trucks as the main mode of transport. For Darcy Budworth, 41, an eight-time TSPer and the race director of New York鈥檚 Take the Bridge series, not having a secure and comfortable place to sleep while her teammates were running proved difficult.

鈥淪ome people slept outside, but it was so fucking cold that I just could not do it,鈥� Budworth says of her team, Team No Names, led by LA-native Gordon Clark.

Meanwhile, the thin air at 11,000-feet led to unshakable cramps. With rest proving difficult, Budworth and her teammates decided to be extra loose with their relay segments, starting with three miles per runner before dropping down to a mile each for the majority of the race.

Border Crossings and Drug Trafficking

It wasn鈥檛 just the temperature and local wildlife that proved challenging. After sunset on the second night, solo runner Lucy Scholz decided to make the most of the no-fixed route rule and took a shortcut by the customs border at Quillagua, where Iquique Province meets Tocopilla Province.

She soon found herself caught among high cliffs. She could see the border crossing below, but getting down to it would mean backtracking for miles. She pushed on, finding a mining trail that led her down through a ravine where customs officials met her in a blaze of torchlights. Scholz had inadvertently stumbled onto a drug-trafficking route.

鈥淭here was a language barrier, and the customs officer was pretty mad,鈥� says Scholz, 34, from New Orleans . 鈥淚t was a total accident. We didn’t intend to skip customs.鈥�

Scholz and her two crew members, Claire and Caleb, managed to pull up The Speed Project鈥檚 Instagram page and eventually convinced the officer of what they were doing.

鈥淚 showed him my watch and he started laughing,鈥� says Scholz. 鈥淗e couldn鈥檛 believe I鈥檇 been running for 40-plus hours. It ended up being fine, but it was a scary moment. We thought we were going to go to jail.鈥�

Crisis averted, Scholz pushed on, finishing third place in the solo race, in 4 days, 9 hours, and 45 minutes.

The Speed Project: Never a Dull Moment

When it comes to The Speed Project, it is these moments that don鈥檛 quite go to plan that are exactly the point.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen the LALV race evolve over time and the shortcuts are some of the most exciting parts, so I鈥檓 excited to see the evolution of this race as teams get to know which routes are safe to take,鈥� says Budworth. 鈥淧art of competing in this first version [of Speed Project Atacama] is knowing that you鈥檙e a guinea pig.鈥�

Team No Names stopped the clock in 39 hours and 7 minutes, to finish in fourth place鈥攆ive hours behind the Belgrade Urban Running Team, which won in 34 hours and 55 minutes. In total, 12 teams crossed the finish line.

For others, the police patrols, running injuries, trucks barrelling past at over 80 miles per hour and encountering a fatal civilian motorcycle accident near Mar铆a Elena proved too much.

鈥淐ops pulled us over on the first highway,鈥� explains Dan Marrett, a 42-year-old Canadian runner with Team Escape. 鈥淚t was a good cop/bad cop situation, asking what we were doing on the highway.鈥� After being let go with a warning, Team Escape turned onto a rural road. But the cops pursued. Not wanting to get pulled over again, they decided to skip the segment entirely.

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Later, they took a shortcut with the aim of cutting seven miles from the total distance. After a while they were stopped by mining security, who informed them that they were on private property and that the road was unsafe due to heavy machinery usage. Threatening to call the cops, security escorted them back to the highway.

Having now driven 12 miles of the route and learning that other runners were having similar trouble with border guards at the Quillagua, Marrett and team decided to not officially finish the race, driving the rest of the distance and symbolically running over the finish line. They were one of three teams to do so, along with the Brooklyn Track Club and Team ADHD.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a failure,鈥� Marrett says. 鈥淚t was just a different interpretation of the experience. But there is a feeling of unfinished business.鈥�

Beyond the Finish Line

Whatever happens on the trails, for many runners, the social side of TSP Atacama was the real prize.

鈥淚t felt like a giant family holiday,鈥� enthuses Marrett. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly challenging but that鈥檚 the beauty of it. This is one of a kind. I have no regrets.鈥�

鈥淭his version of TSP was particularly special,鈥� adds Beba Guzm谩n from Team 261, the only all-Mexican, all-women team. They finished in 46 hours and 41 minutes for tenth place. 鈥淭here were only a few teams, so everything was much more intimate,鈥� she There wasn鈥檛 a competitive feeling; everybody rooted for everybody.鈥�

For Esteban Morales Sing Long, a 33-year-old Santiago native and leader of second-place MAFFS (35 hours and 50 minutes), inviting the world鈥檚 best runners to Chile was something special.

鈥淚t’s a dream to have people from other countries come and run in the world’s driest desert and share the experience,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a magical place.鈥�

His former teammate Keith finished his solo run fourth in four days, 17 hours and 51 minutes after a final 24-hour push with little to no sleep.

鈥淚 was completely out of it,鈥� Keith says. 鈥淚 have never been even close to feeling like that in any other race.鈥�

As the pain faded and exhausted minds recovered, the runners recalled the beauty in those lonely moments running: sand reflecting the pink light of sunsets, salt flats that resemble snow, Martian-esque rock formations, a Milky Way threaded with stars, the pure silence of being alone among it all.

鈥淣ow, I just feel extremely happy to have helped make this project happen, and to have helped others enjoy this place,鈥� says Keith.

Arend is currently planning the future of the series. For him, the most important aspect is delivering on the trust shared with him by the TSP community.

鈥淭his will not be the last race outside of the U.S.,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to be uncomfortable and to keep pushing forward, toward the unknown.鈥�

鈥淲here Nils goes, I鈥檒l follow,鈥� adds Clark, who has completed four TSPs as a runner and crewed two more. 鈥淗e knows how to bring us all together, those who are eager for life experiences over accolades. I鈥檝e made lifelong friends through this. We鈥檙e trauma-bonded. And we鈥檒l do it again next year. It鈥檚 always better next year.鈥�

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