The Bandit Grand Prix is set to return to New York City on May 30, 2026, bringing back the high-octane mix of racing and culture that made its debut such a standout last year.
The event will once again take place at the Brooklyn Storehouse in the Navy Yard, where athletes and spectators packed into the industrial space in 2025 for what many called one of the city’s most exciting new fixtures on the running calendar.
What sets the Grand Prix apart is its approach. Rather than replicating the structure of a traditional road race or a track meet, organizers created a criterium-style format that loops runners around a short, multi-lap course, pulling spectators into the action. Lights, sound production, and even an afterparty turn the evening into more than a competition.
In its first edition, the race drew 1,200+ athletes, including Olympians and NCAA champions, alongside hundreds of local club runners, while more than 1,000 spectators crammed into the Storehouse to watch. Social coverage was just as strong, generating 3 million+ impressions on Bandit’s channels during the weekend.
The 2026 edition will scale things up.
Bandit Running, the Brooklyn-based apparel brand behind the race, confirmed that this year will see a doubled athlete field, expanded venue footprint, more elite entrants, and a fully live-streamed broadcast.
The production will once again be handled by Trimble-Chang Racing, the duo best known for the Red Hook Criterium, an underground cycling series that grew into an international phenomenon.
Their history of blending performance with atmosphere has made them specialists in turning endurance events into cultural happenings, and the Bandit Grand Prix is quickly becoming their running equivalent.
Last summer’s debut also highlighted the event’s cultural pull. Beyond the races themselves, ten in total across multiple heats, the weekend included brand activations from partners, and the afterparty featured a set from Washed Out that drew athletes and fans together long after the final finish.
This year, the ambition is clearly bigger. In addition to doubling down on production, organizers are looking to cement the Grand Prix as a fixture not only in New York’s running scene but also in the broader cultural calendar.
It comes at a time when the sport is being reimagined in new formats, whether through grassroots track meets like the Twilight 5000 or experimental road projects aimed at the Olympic Trials. The Grand Prix fits squarely into that wave, but with a distinctly New York flavor, gritty, stylish, and unapologetically loud.
Registration and ticketing details will roll out in December 2025, first to Bandit members and last year’s participants.
Full information on prize money, sponsors, and the afterparty is still to come, but if the first edition was any indication, the second will only amplify the formula. For a city where running has always been as much about culture as competition, the Bandit Grand Prix seems well on its way to becoming a mainstay.
