Bandit Running wants to support unsponsored athletes betting on themselves at the 2024 Olympic Trials. We’re providing unbranded kits, cash to help with various expenses tied to competing, and a platform for these athletes to shine on this amazing stage.

Our stated mission here at Bandit is to ‘Evolve Running,’ and no area is more ripe for evolution than properly supporting the relentless athletes who give it their all to make it in this sport.

The Olympic Trials in Eugene sets the optimal stage for the Bandit team to put as much might behind supporting athletes as much as we possibly can, even as a new, young brand in this sport.Kicking off in 2023, we supported 9 athletes in the Unsponsored Project initiative and in 2024, we’ll have over 30.

Our efforts stem from a deep love of the sport, a respect for its tradition, and also a recognition that certain aspects of the sport deserve evolution. This initiative was born out of and inspired by the many #goodforthesport conversations happening in near and far circles within the industry, how it needs change, and the many different ways and perspectives that the community believes this sport can grow. And while there’s a ton of amazing work happening, the reality for athletes has remained fairly static - footwear brands are the primary source of income for their journeys and if you don’t have a sponsor, it can be extremely tough to support the balance required to ascend to the highest levels of running.

The training required to get to this level costs money. Once you’ve earned that right, flying to Eugene to shoot your shot for a spot at the Olympics costs even more. For an unsponsored athlete, that cost might be too great. This requires difficult decisions, compromises, and sometimes even missing the chance to chase the dream.

Bandit’s desire is to help and support as many athletes as possible to get to this stage while minimizing the comprises, while promoting these athletes so they can hopefully continue the journey with less obstacles going forward.

Make no mistake about the support infrastructure designed for The Unsponsored Project - these are not your traditional sponsorship deals. They’re two-week deals. These athletes are training year-round, competing year-round, and making it work. But for the Trials, we’re supporting them with two things they need the most - a platform to spotlight their efforts and cash.

We supply all of our supported athletes with unbranded kits and warmups in order to make it as clear as possible that they are unaffiliated and open for sponsorship business. In doing so, we took our pinnacle Bandit racing kits and removed the branding, creating a clean, all-black top and bottom to make their free agent status loud and clear.

The cash is for the athletes to use as they see fit - no strings attached.Most importantly, we built in a release clause in all of these deals. It states that if/when a traditional sponsorship offer comes during the Trials, we’ll release the athlete to sign on that sweet dotted line.They can keep the gear and the cash, and we’ll cheer them on for securing the bag.

Throughout the trials, we’ll be documenting and celebrating their accomplishment of making it to Eugene via our Instagram and Youtube channels (@Banditrunning), while continuing to stay hyper-focused on evolving the ways that we can support these athletes beyond this pinnacle moment.

When you see them on the track this week, give them a little extra love. They’re out there, giving it their all for the love of the game. They’re repping themselves, and we couldn’t be more stoked to support them.

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Watch 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist and Unsponsored athlete Courtney Okolo's Dialed episode here: