Border to Hel IX

Border to Hel is a 466 km team relay race stretching from Poland’s northern border to the Hel Peninsula. For its ninth and largest edition,
We created a complete visual world spanning the core identity, motion, merchandise, event materials and brand partnerships.

Backstory

As a child, I used to listen to stories my grandmother told about the places where she grew up. Folk tales about creatures living in Polish forests and strange things that happen on rural roads after dark, when no human eye is watching.

She would often say that nature is harsh, but fair. It was a belief deeply rooted in Polish folklore. Mickiewicz’s Świtezianka, the stories of Boruta the Devil, and countless other beings said to inhabit forests, marshes and forgotten corners of the countryside. They were rarely entirely good or entirely evil. Devil Boruta, for example, was much closer to a trickster than a biblical devil — mischievous and unpredictable, yet occasionally willing to help those who crossed his path.

This collection of stories and images became the starting point for the visual identity of Border to Hel — a raw, unsanctioned race across a part of Poland that still feels exotic, even to us. Through dense forests, forgotten roads, harsh weather and hundreds of people trying to make sense of it all.
Unlike the visual language commonly associated with contemporary running events: fast, urban and heavily influenced by global trends we wanted to create something with its own DNA. A world rooted in local myths and folklore, where devils and woodland spirits act as the hosts of this landscape.

Sometimes they help the runners.
Sometimes they make the journey a little harder.

A permanent mark.
A new edition.

The identity introduced in 2025 became the permanent mark of Border to Hel. To distinguish the ninth edition, we created a Roman numeral IX drawn in the same spirit as the original lettering.

One of its characters was then brought into physical space as a wooden totem, appearing at both the start and finish.

Teasers

Ahead of the event, we created two teaser films introducing the visual world of the ninth edition.

Rather than revealing specific details, both focused on atmosphere, anticipation and the folklore-inspired identity developed for the event. The second teaser also announced our collaboration with adidas, integrating the partnership into the same visual narrative.

Merch

Border to Hel merch was never meant to be a finish-line giveaway. We wanted a piece people would keep wearing long after the race.

The shirt pulls from the same place as the identity:
Polish folklore, local myths, and the visual language
of black metal.

The result sits somewhere between sportswear and a world of devils, woodland spirits and folk symbols.
Just one shirt, but made to carry all of it. One graphic,
done properly, over a rack of forgettable extras.

Produced with Adidas on heavyweight cotton, built to outlast the event that made it.

Keaton’s friendly review

We could have added another polished product gallery, but Keaton does it better and funnier. She flew in from LA to run BTH, and shows what the racers actually got. More fun than Behance review.

Partner worlds

We try to play it cool. Then an email lands: Porsche is sponsoring BTH, and we get to brand the new Cayenne GTS — and suddenly, we’re eight years old again, holding our favourite toy for the first time.

BTH Service

As Border to Hel grew, so did the crew behind it. Media, staff, and the volunteers who quietly hold the whole thing together, the real GOATs. To bring them under one banner, we built a separate BTH Service line for everyone working the race.

You made it out.
See you on the start line BTH X, 2027

See how the earlier editions looked:

Index

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