A maze is also a device, a narrative machine. A system designed to remove certainty, impose immediate decisions, turn instinct into strategy and clarity into a form of resistance. You don’t run it simply to come first; you run it to understand, to react, to stay together, to hold your line while the cheering rises around you and the strategy keeps shifting.

Held at Superstudio Events on Via Tortona, the event was conceived precisely to pull running out of its habitual tracks, to tear it away from the reassuring grammar of its usual environments. To remove the stable ground beneath the feet of the running crews involved. Because sometimes running is not only about speed, but about the ability to orient yourself in doubt; not only about the individual athletic gesture, but about the quality of collective thinking. In a context built around unpredictability, running stops being a linear sequence of effort and becomes an exercise in adaptation, listening, reading the space and one another.

Within this setting, 32 athletes, 8 running crews, and  60 minutes of high-intensity team racing, immersed in darkness, music and discontinuity, gave shape to something that felt closer to a test of self-knowledge — of one’s own pace and of one’s group — than to a simple race activation. Every turn, every diversion, every beam of green light was designed to raise questions in the minds of the runners: trust your instinct or trust the group? Accelerate or think about the next move? Take the initiative or stay compact? Through this race, running revealed new meanings, showing that contemporary running culture is made not only of times and results, but also of pressure, interpretation, vulnerability and, above all, mutual support.

We had the chance to experience this one-of-a-kind race through a special photo gallery and through the direct testimonies of Donatas ‘Donny’ Blimbergas, Lorena Perobas Amaral, Giulia Zag and Italo Rivera, who shared the emotions they experienced inside this disorienting format. What emerges is an honest portrait of running as community, belonging, tension and joy.

THE MAZE ZE:RO HO:UR feels less like a race and more like a mental journey. As a captain, do you feel you have to guide your team more with your legs or with your head? Do you think it’s a more physical or more mental kind of race?

Donatas ‘Donny’ Blimbergas, Runaway Athletics: “It’s definitely something very fun, very intense — one of those experiences where you can really give everything. I feel good, both physically and mentally, but more than anything I think it’s an event connected to enjoyment, energy and cheering. It’s definitely something really beautiful to experience.”

Lorena Perobas Amaral, Runaway Connection: “For me it was my first time here at Superstudio and, honestly, I didn’t expect it to feel like this. I really love the setting — Saucony and Runaway did an amazing job. I have to admit that, in my opinion, this race is all about the mind. In the end, I think running is mostly mental: what matters is the motivation you have and the focus you’re able to put into what you do. I hope I react well, but I’m just very happy to be here and to take part.”

Giulia Zag, The Misfits: “Much more mental, and definitely much more connected to fun as well. If you let yourself be guided by that spirit, it almost stops being about the body in the strict sense and starts being more about the energy of the people around you, the atmosphere, the environment. So yes, I’d definitely say mental — but also playful.”

Italo Rivera, Clan Running Milano: “We’re a very mixed group. We have Alessandro, who’s a sprinter, he also does Hyrox, and he’s extremely quick — he’s our star player, so to speak. Then there are the two girls, and they’re very fast too. We didn’t focus only on speed, but also on the mental side. We thought about holding a certain pace for a while, then breaking the balance and accelerating. In a race like this, the mental component matters a huge amount.”

We often think of running as something linear: rhythm, control. This race constantly disrupts the usual grammar of running. What changes in your approach to the race?

Donatas ‘Donny’ Blimbergas, Runaway Athletics: “On a course like this, I think it’s impossible to lock into one precise pace, especially if you’re used to doing sessions or reps at very defined rhythms. A 250-metre loop doesn’t allow you to just push at maximum intensity in a constant way, both on the corners and on the straights. At the same time, though, that’s exactly what makes it interesting: understanding how, in a situation like this, you can develop a certain kind of speed, but also how you can keep adapting to the context.”

Lorena Perobas Amaral, Runaway Connection: “In reality, it’s not that different from what I usually do, because I’m still quite new to this world. I come from track and field — I used to do long jump and triple jump — so I had precise training, precise timings, everything very structured. When I stopped, I started running because I wanted to find that competitive mindset again, but in my own way. When I run, I just go. I turn, I stop when I’m tired, or simply when I feel like stopping, I look at views of Milan I’d never seen before — I want to get lost. For me, running is also that: moving without too precise logic. So in a way this experience feels quite close to that way of living running. Maybe it’s a route designed to put you in a crisis, but I hope that’s exactly what will bring me luck and make me feel comfortable.”

Giulia Zag, The Misfits: “It definitely changes your relationship to endurance. Here it’s not really about endurance in the classical sense, but about entering a mental loop that has nothing to do with length or distance and everything to do with giving your best in those twelve minutes. It’s something more explosive. But beyond that, it’s also fun to change the concept. I’m someone who usually likes running on circular circuits more than on linear routes, because it feels like you begin something and then close it. Running straight ahead, on the other hand, gives me the feeling of an endless race toward a horizon that never arrives. So I like that this course is circular, that there are people around who can cheer, that everything slips into a kind of loop. It’s almost like a trance: you enter that rhythm and you just keep running.”

Italo Rivera, Clan Running Milano: “For me personally, it changes a lot. I’m definitely much more comfortable over long distances. I’m preparing for the Milan marathon, and I’m also running Geneva in two months. Races this short aren’t exactly my daily bread. But Milan also gives you these opportunities: to run in crazy places, in unusual contexts like this one. The city is offering runners so many chances to step into the light and, in my opinion, you just can’t let an opportunity like this pass you by.”

We’re connecting the idea of “The Maze” to the famous dystopian saga The Maze Runner, where a group of teenagers trapped inside a constantly changing labyrinth tries to find a way out. Running in the dark, in the uncertainty of this maze — what emotions does it awaken in you?

Donatas ‘Donny’ Blimbergas, Runaway Athletics: “It definitely gives you pure adrenaline — real endorphins. And in this case it also makes you smile, considering Saucony’s shoe is called Endorphin. Personally, I really love these kinds of races, these night events, a bit dark, a bit street, with cheering, shouting, chaos all around. They have a very particular energy.”

Lorena Perobas Amaral, Runaway Connection: “When I arrived here I was a bit scared. This is my first race over longer distances. But in the end I had a lot of fun. I really wanted to put myself on the line and I hope I managed to give my best.”

Giulia Zag, The Misfits: “I’m someone who’s afraid of the dark, so a part of me was terrified. But the most interesting thing, in my opinion, is trying to bring the idea of running into something that also has to do with fun, and that isn’t only sportive or athletic. Something that can also bring people together. Creating a night-time concept with this slightly more playful atmosphere, and placing it inside a structure like this, is exactly what makes it interesting to me: bringing together two dimensions that don’t usually speak to each other this much.”

Italo Rivera, Clan Running Milano: “A new and different course like this gives me a lot of emotion, above all because it places me in front of something new — and that’s something I like. Running in the evening, in the dark, is actually something I do often, because I usually train very early in the morning, at four or five. So darkness, in a way, is my comfort zone. I enter that dimension as one person and come out of it as another. I feel at ease in the dark.”

Every running crew carries its own culture, its own language, its own way of being together. How important is the group — and knowing each other — inside an unconventional run like this?

Donatas ‘Donny’ Blimbergas, Runaway Athletics: “The main thing is staying united, getting to know each other, even beyond the race itself. The group helps you enormously, especially on the mental side, in those moments when you might be lacking a bit of energy. Having people next to you with whom you share this kind of experience really makes the difference.”

Lorena Perobas Amaral, Runaway Connection: “Your partner helps you, pushes you when maybe you’re feeling a bit low, and you do the same for them when their difficult moment arrives. That’s why I think mutual support is so important. I know my partner helps me give my maximum, and I will definitely do the same for them. For me the group is important — actually, it’s essential.”

Giulia Zag, The Misfits: “The group always matters enormously. In every race I’ve done, race pace is always a different pace — but not only because you’re inside a competition. It’s because when you’re involved in a team of people, you feel more carried along. Being part of a team is beautiful also because you feel a responsibility towards the others. And so, in the end, you give your best partly because you don’t want to let down the people running with you.”

Italo Rivera, Clan Running Milano: “The group, in general — not only in running, but in life — is incredibly important. With the people in our team, we’re very similar: we met thanks to running and together we founded this running club. What we wanted, maybe, was to differentiate ourselves from other running clubs in the simplest possible way: to be there, to do things well, and to do them with everyone. For us, the running club is first and foremost a moment of togetherness and spontaneity.”