FANS OF HORSERACING love a reliable
‘mudder’: a horse with a knack for
thriving on a wet and muddy course.
True to its name, the Wildhorse 5 is
what you want to reach for in sloppy,
slippery conditions. Whether you
consider yourself a proud stallion
or a hardworking shire horse, no run
is too rugged for this shoe. Water
stays out, stones don’t penetrate
the outsole and there’s just enough
cushioning to save your calves on a
day-long expedition. Testers raved
about the lugs on dry ground, which
protrude at different angles to give you
maximum grip uphill, downhill and on
the f lat. The excellent tread pattern
sheds mud without sacrificing traction
and a Zoom Air pod under the heel
softens your landing. For some testers,
it was all they needed for hours on the
trail; others wanted that responsive
cushioning to extend to the forefoot.LAKE DISTRICT-BASED brand Inov-8 has
come up trumps yet again here. Like
much of its range, this is a very well
designed shoe. The G in the model name
refers to graphene, a semi-metal that is
one of the hardest materials on earth. It
can be mixed with rubber, which Inov-8
now uses in its shoes for durability and
traction on the trails. It certainly does
the job: after 200 miles, the outsole
barely looked like it had been used.
Traction was supreme, giving us the
confidence to descend at pace down a
tricky Austrian alpine mountain, and it
even performed well on wet rock, trail
runners’ bête noire. The 4mm heel drop
gave a racy feel for fast running but
wasn’t so low-slung we couldn’t go long
in the shoe. Comfort levels are superb
and we barely felt the full-length
protection plate. The only gripe was an
excessively thick tongue, which affects
how tightly you can tie the laces.TRAIL RUNNING CAN OFTEN BE a bruising
experience: wet boulders challenge your
grip; pointy rocks tenderise your feet;
and debris trips you up, sometimes
deliberately. To survive (and enjoy) all
that, we find the Scarpa Spin RS is an
ideal companion. Its rubber outsole
grabs the trail with chunky directional
lugs we loved while running on slippery
trails, and even snow, up in fell country.
The Vibram Litebase tread is less than
1mm thick (minus the lugs), which
helps Scarpa keep the weight down.
We liked the soft tongue, which wraps
around the midfoot to help stabilise
the foot inside the shoe, though some
testers felt that the toebox was narrow.
The Spin RS’s stiffness and modest
cushioning make it less than ideal for
casual trail runners looking for a shoe
that also works well on roads, but it’s a
great option for racers looking to run
WORDS: KERRY MCCARTHY. PHOTOGRAPHS: LUCKY IF SHARP quickly over tricky terrain.
SEPTEMBER 2019 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK 081If you want to take your running offroad and into the great British countryside (and we think you
should), make sure you’re kitted out with shoes and apparel that will work just as hard as you doNike Air Zoom Wildhorse 5£104.95, nike.comInov-8 Roclite G 290£120, inov-8.comScarpa Spin RS£140, scarpa.co.ukGEAR TRAIL