The Running Event brings together almost every major brand under one roof to show off the upcoming year’s lineup to both retailers and press alike. We had the opportunity to attend and it was awesome to see what some folks have in store for the running community this coming year. We will breakdown each brand in a moment, but it’s important to look at the pervasive trends before diving deeper. TRENDS Male ...
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When thinking of flagship trail runners and the Pacific Northwest, no shoe model should jump into your mind faster than the Brooks Cascadia. The shoe pays homage to its Washington roots referencing the Cascade mountain range and from its yearly collaborations with REI to the incredible nature-oriented colorways they come out with, the question for us as always is... can they do better next year? Honestly, while the 13 was ...
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Topo Athletic has gone all in this last year in terms of refining and broadening their line to ensure they have representation across multiple aspects of road and trail running. Never is this truer than with the release of the latest in their trail arsenal, the MTN Racer. This is their latest and most dynamic trail runner and while it features a number of elements that their other trail show, ...
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When it comes to trail shoes, Hoka has had a couple of top choices, the Challenger ATR and the Speedgoat, but when the EVO Mafate 2 was released we wondered how it might fit. After putting it through its paces, it is clear it is basically the answer to what would the Rincon look like as a trail shoe. They come in under 9 ounces, feature a reinforced upper, sport ...
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Topo Athletics updates there MT trail line up with the new MT-3. This is really your everyday trail runner that sits at a comfortable spot in the lineup against their Terraventure and new MTN Racer models. It is not a highly technical shoe by any means, but as a shoe you can just throw on and drop into any trail it is pretty successful. We gave it the his and ...
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Adidas brings one of their iconic looking road shoes to the trail with this implementation of the Supernova Trail. It perplexes us a bit why they continue to operate the two lines so differently when there are obvious synergies that could be put to better use by aligning the road and trail platforms, but time will tell what their plan is. For now, we put these to the test. Construction: Upper The ...
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For some reason, Adidas continues to treat the trail and outdoor part of their lineup as a highly distinct business unit, affectionately known as Adidas Outdoor. We saw this with the Supernova Trail definitely, but the Two Parley Trail is an attempt to more closely align the two platforms using road technology interchangeably which is both good and bad. Construction: Upper The upper is a full engineered knit and takes all ...
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Topo Athletics had a great shoe with the original Terraventure and now with the updated Terraventure 2, they have fixed a lot of the issues found in the original especially when it comes to traction. We handed it over to our his and hers testers and have the results. Construction: Upper The upper on the Terraventure 2 sees am overhaul from the original, making it now softer and more flexible. They are ...
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Among the Hoka lineup, there are a few shoes that feel like they have been there forever most notably, the Clifton and it's trail counterpart the Challenger ATR. With the prior model, we really felt it deviated away from what made the Challenger platform great historically. It used to be more or less a clone of the Clifton just for the trail, but with the 4 it went in a ...
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Topo Athletic is coming on strong with this year‘s lineup to say the least and this is nevermore clear been in the new Ultraventure. This well cushioned trail runner is definitely here to take on the big boys in the trail running game and we put it through its paces to see if it truly stacks up. Our initial thoughts, Altra and Hoka beware… Topo Athletic is coming for you. Construction: ...
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