Imagine if one of your favorite road shoes got some cladding and some tread and showed up on the trail… well that has long been the story of the Clifton and the Challenger and we are happy to say that the Challenger 7 takes everything good from the Clifton 9, making for an easy ride on the trails. With a comfy upper and a touch more cushion, these make for easy trail days, but the outsole could use a bit of work because highly technical or messy trails and these just do not mix. They are simply better options in the Hoka lineup, but for easy well groomed stuff, the Challenger 7s are an easy rider.
Quick Details, Specs, and Availability
- Weight – 8.9oz or 252g for a US Men’s 9, 7.7oz or 218g for a US Women’s 7
- Cushion – 37mm of cushion and a 5mm heel/toe drop
- Pricing – 145 USD
- Colors – 5 colors
Construction and Materials
Upper
The HOKA Challenger 7 features an engineered mesh construction that provides exceptional breathability, keeping your feet cool and comfortable during your runs. You can expect effortless on and off with the extended heel pull design, making it a breeze to get your fit right.
Midsole
The HOKA Challenger 7 is equipped with a compression-molded EVA foam midsole that delivers a plush and comfortable feel underfoot. The cushioning provided by the midsole ensures a soft and responsive experience, enhancing the overall comfort of your runs.
Outsole
The HOKA Challenger 7 is equipped with a Durabrasion rubber outsole that seamlessly adapts to various terrains, thanks to its versatile design, while the 4mm lugs offer ultimate traction, ensuring a confident and secure grip on any surface.
Performance Review
Having long been a fan of the Hoka Challenger ATR, as they used to call it, we have a pretty good idea of what the role of the shoe is supposed to take. It is sold like a trail shoe, but that continues to be the one big problem that folks have with it. The thing that makes this shoe good is the fact that it is a hybrid shoe. It is one of the better road to gravel to trail to whatever that you’ll find out there and it is simply not designed for highly technical single track with a bunch of exposed rocks or people who want to run fast.
That out of the way, the question is, how is the Hoka Challenger 7 and the answer is just as good as ever before. It takes what we love about the Clifton road shoe and installs it into this road trail hybrid and sure you lose a little bit in the stack, although this year’s model has even more, but you pair that with a more bulletproof upper and a nice comfortable step-in, and what you get is a daily runner that can be used road to trail without issue. It is also our go to shoe on those really nasty messy fall and winter days when the roads are covered with the debris and it gets a bit wetter.
Note there is more rubber on here than on the Clifton, so the EVA midsole may feel stiffer underfoot. This is fairly normal with trail shoes in general, because you lack all of those flex points that manufactures put in on the road side of things to help with transition. The rubber and lugs are there to provide traction and protection so not necessarily a negative in our opinion but can take getting used to.
Overall Conclusion
The Challenger 7 is a beautiful mirror to the Clifton 9 and gets a tweaked upper and a bit more cushion in this year’s model. If your target is well groomed trails, fire roads, or road/trail mix then this shoe delivers a nice easy running experience. If things get overly technical or if you are racing low mileage trails, then you are probably better to look elsewhere. The Challenger remains a solid daily trail runner, but can get left in the dust when things get aggressive.
Learn more on the Hoka website
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Check Out Other Reviewers Thoughts
As always, we gather together some of our favorite reviewers so you can get a well-rounded view of the shoe. Here are our favorites.
