Trail Running Shoes

[damienair]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for advice on Trail Running shoes. I wear my Brooks GTS Adrenaline 23's for all my running and I am currently breaking in a new pair which cost €150. I have a couple of events coming up which are on mountain trails, completely off road on a mixture of boggy wet terrain, mountain paths with gravel and stone as well as forest trails. So I will need a proper pair of trail shoes. However I will not be wearing them too much and only for the very occasional trail event. Therefore I do not want to shell out a lot of money to purchase a pair and was wondering if any of you have any advice or experience of good comfortable budget priced trail running shoes.

Many thanks,

Damien

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Good luck to you Damien on your forthcoming mountain trail runs, as you already have two pairs of running shoes, I assume from a specialist sports shop you could ask in that shop for advice on what shoes are best for mountain trail runs, perhaps another pair of Brooks shoes, I find the pair of Brooks trail shoes I have are excellent, but I wear them at parkrun trail runs, not mountain trails.

[damienair Administrator in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks Al. I’m hoping to pick up something that will not be too expensive. As realistically I would only be wearing them a few times per year. I will be doing 99% of my running in my Brooks shoes.

[GTFC Graduate10]

I've always loved the Hoka ATR series and had three pairs. I really love them. You may be able to pick up a pair of ATR 5's for a really good price as the newer versions are out. *EDIT Just looked at the ATR challenger 6 it is a steal!!! They are brilliant on trails and road too, grippy in ice and just brilliant in my opinion. People also love the Speedgoat but I've never had them.

[damienair Administrator in reply to GTFC]

Thanks so much for your feedback. I’ll look into them now. Cheers.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

I bought some Brooks Caldera 6 (thank you Cmoi for recommending them!) mega cheap on Startfitness-they’ve currently got an extra 10% off with the code “SUMMER” and come with free socks. The calderas are really comfy-they’re more cushioned than I was expecting and they do really well road to trail. I haven’t taken them on anything extreme though!

As I was checking whether they ship to Ireland, I accidentally ordered some new adrenaline 22s for £67.50. Oops.

[GTFC Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

👆🏽🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[damienair Administrator in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Brilliant. That’s a great tip. Going to check out that website now.

[damienair Administrator in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thanks so much again for your reply. That website was fantastic. I bought a pair of Caldera 6 this morning. I was having a rough few hours in work and pressed the buy button. I will definitely be using this website again. Great savings. I am nervous about buying new shoes as I over pronate. I have worn Brooks Adrenaline GTS for about 7 years. I changed once to Mizino Wave Inspire shoes and I couldn’t run in them. My feet were in agony after a couple of kilometres. So I’m happy to be staying with Brooks.

[Folkylass Administrator]

Hi damienair I wear Brooks Divide 4 GORE-TEX Womens Trail Running Shoes. Purchased them from start fitness outlet in February. They were much cheaper at the time than buying them directly from Brooks themselves and I got a free pair of running socks as well. They are great for where I live with farm tracks ,stoney lanes , hills and fields. And they are waterproof. So all good.

Good luck with your shoe hunting.

Black, purple ,brown,

[damienair Administrator in reply to Folkylass]

Thank you so much. I ended up buying Brooks Caldera 6’s in the end. Got them at half price so delighted with that plus like you a free pair of socks.

[Folkylass Administrator in reply to damienair]

That’s brilliant and great that we get free socks too ,I love a bargain ! 🤣

Happy running🏃

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate]

Hello... I am an Adidas fan...

All my running shoes have been Adidas, I have road runners and Trail Running shoes... they do not cost a lot and are absolutely great for comfort, never any blisters etc. and grip.

I chose my first pair of Trail runners a while ago.., having had Adidas hybrids previously.

healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...

[damienair Administrator in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks for your reply. I was looking at Adidas trail shoes . They looked good but I decided to stick with Brooks.

[GoogleMe Graduate10]

Innov-8 are the go-to for off road running, it's what they specialise in.

It's a very personal thing... I've not got on with trail running shoes others rave about on here, I like my shoes minimalist so I can feel what I'm doing. From your terrain description I don't think you are going to need massively deep lugs.

In the circumstances I wonder if it would be worth your while looking at second hand?

[damienair Administrator in reply to GoogleMe]

Thanks for your reply. I ended up buying a pair of Brooks Caldera 6’s. Got them at half price. Hopefully they will suit me.

[JonathanP Graduate10]

I don't know if you have Decathlon in N Ireland Damien? I too wear trail shoes infrequently and bought a pair of their own brand at a very reasonable cost, which have been fine.

[damienair Administrator in reply to JonathanP]

Hi Jonathan. Thank you. Yes initially I was thinking about Decathlon. There is a Decathlon in Dublin and in Belfast. MissUnderstanding gave me a great tip for a website. Great value and I will buying from it again.

[Cmoi Graduate10]

I tried Hoka ATRs but they didn't work for me, too slippery on gravel and branches. As for Brooks, Divides were OK on roads and easy tracks, but couldn't handle anything remotely technical, and wore out really quickly. Love my Caldera 6s for everything but really technical trails. They're designed for ultra running, and are on offer now as the Caldera 7s are out now. I wouldn't buy any Caldera model before 6 as they were majorly reworked for that edition. For the most challenging trails I have and also love Cascadias, which I used for the Trail du Gévaudan.

Decathlon have some good own brand trail shoes at very reasonable prices. Check the references as some are road and trail models, and others for more technical surfaces.

Happy shopping and running!

[damienair Administrator in reply to Cmoi]

Thank you so much for your advice. I purchased a pair of Caldera 6’s this morning and got them at half price with a free pair of socks. So delighted with that. Hopefully they will suit me ok.

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

You're welcome damienair , really hope they suit you.

If not, you could probably sell them on. Confession: all my recent running shoe buys, including my Caldera 6s, came from Vinted. Obviously I didn't buy a pair of once-worn Ghost Max there yesterday for 45 €. It was my evil twin. 😈

[Freecloud Graduate10]

GEL-VENTURE 9 on Asics outlet are 56.00 Euro. I have a pair of 8s and they are grand for trails.

[Flimflab]

I also have the Adrenaline 23's. The sides ripped running trough brambles, so trail shoes would have saved me having to buy a new pair of Adrenalines .

I have now bought Saucony Peregrine 13 GORE-TEX Trail Running Shoes £76.49 from Sport Shoes.com in the same shoe size as the Brooks. Comfortable, but I find them narrower on the front toe box compared to the Brooks but I have not found this to be a problem for me. The heel is also a good fit for me. I find them better than my old trail shoes for the road running sections. Being Gore-Tex they are good through puddles and rock pools.

They are reinforced on the sides so I expect them to be better for brambles on trails and I cant feel rocks through the soles. The reinforcement of the toe is good when I kick roots.

Inov8 or Brooks Caldera were alternatives. The inov8's are popular with the trail runners at the club but they were more expensive than the Saucony.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Flimflab]

Thank you. I ended up buying a pair of Caldera 6’s. Hopefully they suit me as well as the Adrenaline shoes

[Beiciwr Graduate10]

I do a lot of running around forestry tracks, so everything from hard packed stone to loose gravel and stones to deep mud and soft grass, and I use Asics gel venture 9s they're cheap and cheerful but I love them, really comfy and supportive and with just the right amount of cushioning, you can get them in a waterproof version as well, but I really don't like running on tarmac in them, it's difficult to explain but when in the forestry they're really grippy and your steps feel secure were as on the roads it's the exact opposite, the soles feel too firm and can be a bit slippery especially on wet slopes, when I've worn these out I will definitely buy another pair for my trail running, think I paid £60 for mine from sport direct and I find their size is the same as my shoe size so no faffing around there either.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Beiciwr]

Thank you. Yes I was looking at Adidas as well.