In the vast, sun-baked expanse of the Ojito Wilderness near Santa Fe, New Mexico, a striking testament to the solitary pursuit of running has materialized. Conceived by adidas EQT in collaboration with the visionary LA-based creative agency PlayLab, led by co-founder Archie Lee Coates (@ottomilo), this land art installation is more than just a track; it’s a profound monument to running. Born from the relaunch of the iconic adidas Equipment (EQT) line – originally forged in 1991 on the principle of “everything that is essential, and nothing that is not” – the project poses and answers a fundamental question: What is essential to running?
“We created this moment dedicated to this runner, you, someone who is balancing a creative field and their own well-being,” Coates explains, framing the project’s deeply personal intent. The dialogue with adidas began around that core inquiry into running’s essence. “Who is it for? What does it need to look like? How often do you need to do it? And ultimately what does running look like? For us we boiled it down to being a ritual. Something that is deeply nuanced, personal, spiritual and ultimately an art form in itself.”
The answer manifested physically as a stark, beautiful running track etched into the landscape of a remote gypsum mine. Sculpted entirely by hand over several weeks using only indigenous materials, the 300ft x 100ft structure spans precisely 200m. Its isolation is deliberate, stripping away all distractions to focus purely on the act, the rhythm, the breath – the runner’s high often achieved unseen. This deliberate setting transforms the desert installation into a stage for a deeply personal ritual.
More than just symbolic, the track served as the experiential heart of the EQT relaunch event. Global guests were granted 30 minutes of solitude on the earth-formed path to wear test pivotal new products embodying the EQT ethos. These included the future-focused Agravic trail shoe (slated for release in 2025), the highly limited Equipment Pro 91/24 (only 100 pairs releasing next week), and a prototype Equipment Guidance 91/24, reimagining the iconic adi pro zero for the modern era.
Crucially, the project embraced impermanence and responsibility. “Created for one day only, the net zero project will go back into the earth once finished,” states Coates. This commitment underscores a philosophy aligned with both the desert’s enduring nature and EQT’s foundational principle of essentialism.
The sustainable design ensured minimal lasting impact, allowing the land to reclaim the monument naturally. This ephemeral art piece served as a powerful, transient ode to the countless unseen miles run, a land art gesture celebrating the sport‘s purest, most personal form – a fleeting ritual solidified, however briefly, in the New Mexico desert.