Bandit Running Supports Unsponsored Athletes at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships

From July 6 to July 9, the best athletes on and around the oval will descend on Eugene, Oregon’s historic Hayward Field for the 2023 US National Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Many of these athletes have sponsors—brands or affiliations who’ve supported them throughout their training and competition. But not all of them.

Some of the most talented sprinters, steeplechasers, and shot-putters in the country are unsponsored, which means they’re arriving at one of the world’s biggest stages without even a designated uniform to compete in.

As a result, these athletes simply wear whatever brand they’ve already got in their closet on race day. (Even if a runner isn’t sponsored by a Nike or Adidas, so to speak, they’ll don the Swoosh or Three Stripes logo because, well, they can’t toe the line in the buff.) Bandit Running is doing something about it.

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The NYC-based running company will provide singlets to any unsponsored athlete competing at the US Outdoor Championships—if that’s you, just slide into their DMs and they’ll hook you up. In addition to kitting out runners in new gear, Bandit is also backing a few athletes, such as Craig Nowak, Courtney Okolo, and Emma Gee.

The race kits include all-black, unbranded tops and bottoms.

“The sponsorship model in running is broken—there is not enough money to go around. Our hope is that as we grow, we can support athletes at a higher level to represent themselves and their communities,” said Joe Andrews (Bandit’s VP of marketing) and Tim Rossi (head of brand, community, and experiences) in a press release.

“Bandit Running is not currently able to invest in full-time professional contracts, but to serve athletes we are coming to USAs with custom unbranded Bandit singlets, giving athletes the opportunity to state that they are unsponsored and, hopefully, pursue a full-time contract.”

Bandit hopes its efforts will help evolve the current sponsorship model in running. As more and more talented athletes compete unaffiliated, this editor asks if we might see a blacked-out podium at this year’s US Outdoor Championships.