Bucket List · Bucket list route
The Speed Project
There is no website with a registration page. There are no rules, no course, no aid stations, and no spectators. Teams leave the Santa Monica Pier at four in the morning and arrive at the Las Vegas sign 340 miles later, having chosen their own line across the Mojave Desert.
- Distance
- ~340 mi
- Route
- Your choice
- Team
- 6 runners, or solo
- Rules
- "There are no rules"
- Start
- Santa Monica Pier, 4 a.m.
- Finish
- The Las Vegas sign
The Speed Project started as a group of friends deciding to run from LA to Vegas and became the most stylish event in running. Six-person teams relay across the desert in whatever configuration they like, with a van, through Death Valley-adjacent terrain, over mountain passes, and through absolutely nothing for hours at a time. Route choice is strategy: teams argue about whether to take the shorter, harder line or the longer, faster road.
There's also a solo category, which is 340 miles across the desert alone with a crew, and it is exactly as unreasonable as it sounds.
How to get in
- ApplicationAsk to be invited
Entry is by invitation. Teams apply, and the organisers choose. The field skews toward run crews, brand teams, and people with a story, which is by design: the event is curated as much as it is organised.
- Self-supportedTSP DIY
The unofficial version is a genuine institution. Teams run the route on their own, on their own schedule, with no permission required. Same desert, same 340 miles, no invitation needed. It's the most common way people actually experience this.
Crossing the Mojave safely
- The crew vehicle is life support. Water, ice, shade, and the ability to extract someone fast.
- Night is the best running and the biggest risk. Reflective gear, lights, and a follow vehicle on remote roads.
- Heat and cold in the same day. The Mojave in March swings enormously.
- Route choice is the sport. Dirt roads and powerline cuts versus paved highway. Recon on Google Earth is normal and rewarded.
- Know where the water and fuel stops are. There are long stretches with nothing at all.
Questions runners actually ask
How do I enter The Speed Project?
By invitation. Teams apply and the organisers select the field, which skews toward run crews and teams with a distinctive story. There is no open registration.
What is TSP DIY?
The unofficial version, where teams run the Los Angeles to Las Vegas route on their own schedule with no permission or entry. It is genuinely popular and requires nothing but a van and six willing people.
Go to the source
Entry rules, dates, standards, fees, and odds change every single year, and the interesting races change them the most. Use this guide to build the plan; use the official site to confirm the details before you book anything.
If this is your kind of thing
Need the races in between? The hard part of a bucket list year is everything else on the calendar: the qualifier, the tune-up, the long run with a bib on.