Race Identity & Apparel
Comrades 2026 Team India.
A race jersey design for Team India at the Comrades Marathon 2026, built around the Up Run's relentless ascent and India's rising presence on the global endurance stage.
Challenge
The Comrades Marathon is one of the most demanding ultramarathons in the world. A jersey for Team India needed to carry two things simultaneously: the identity of the race, its brutal, unrelenting uphill character, and the identity of the team wearing it, representing India on one of endurance sport's biggest stages.
Insight
The Up Run doesn't just describe a course. It describes a mindset. Every Indian runner who lines up at Comrades has climbed something, miles, years, odds, to get there. The jersey needed to honour that ascent as much as the one they were about to run.
Approach
Developed 'Elevation Through Endurance' as the creative direction, interpreting the Up Run through four dynamic upward arrows, each symbolising sustained elevation and forward momentum. The arrows capture the rhythm of the climb: step after step, hill after hill, never looking back. Rendered in the colours of the Indian flag, saffron, white, green, with a grounding note of navy blue, national identity is embedded directly into the movement graphic. The four arrows unified into a single upward force represent team spirit, collective ambition, and India's place on the global endurance stage.
Outcome
A jersey that does more than identify a team. It articulates what it means to be an Indian runner at Comrades 2026, rising together, proudly, and relentlessly.
Deliverables
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