The Trail Shoe Choice

Im running a trail half end of the month and need to purchase a trail shoe.

Ive had my eyes on a pair of asics lahar 4 gortex shoes that i can pick up for just short of £70. My only gripe is spending what i consider to be a reasonable amount of money on a shoe im gonna cake in mud and ruin :S i love clean lol

While i popped into sports direct, looking for a running jacket, i came across a few new balance trail shoes that about £25-£30, but i'd feel bad after going to a specialist shop and potentially wasting someones time. AAAAhhhhh, advice please  

Don't run on trails if you dont want to get muddy shoes!

how extreme is the trail you will be running on?

lol i just read my post back and it did sound really stupid lol

to be honest, the trail im running, i think is going to be mostly foresty bridle paths so they wont get so muddy. hmmmmm. next question, are the asics worth the extra?

Ricardo86 wrote (see)

to be honest, the trail im running, i think is going to be mostly foresty bridle paths so they wont get so muddy.

A forestry bridle path this summer 

I'd stay clear of gortex shoes in most circmstances, because once you've been though that, there's no where for the water to drain out.

You probably dont need a technical trail shoe then.

The cheap options are: 1. use your normal road shoe. 2. if you dont want to risk getting them mucky then buy the cheap new balance trail shoe (provided you dont need any specialist support etc)
If you havent done a lot of trail running then save the expensive purchase for later on!

I'd agree with Ian on the waterproof shoes, drainage is better because sooner or later the water is gonna get in somewhere, unless you are running in waders!

Ian - just run through stuff like that in my barefoot shoes over the dorset coast path this week, couldnt even see my shoelaces to undo them when i got back to the car!

hahaha, gotta love summer. Wicked, cheers Ian

i might stick with a cheap new balance shoe for now then. until i really get into it. thanks for your advice guys

I have some Asics Trail Attack 7 and I love them. They are on offer on a few sites now at around £40 but I think there might be a new model emerging as I've had my 7s for a while and they cost about £65 when I purchased them. At that kind of price I would expect the shoe to take a beating and have enough quality to keep going. If you decide on the Asics I wouldn't worry about getting mud on them, based on my experience they are built to last and I run a lot of trails, gravel, mud, water etc. They dry quickly as well which helps!

Those shoes will do you well Keggi....

Amen on the don't get waterproof comments - once it gets in at the first puddle, it isn't going anywhere in a hurry and you've got a lot of damp running to come...

ok, so i found a pair of salomon xr crossmax for 47.50

New Balance MT110s are amazing. They are like slippers (for me at least) and are cheap (around 35 quid from Sports Direct), have good grip and excellent drainage. They even have a rock plate in them. I have run up to 20 miles on trail/road runs with no bother whatsoever.

How do people find trail shoes on proper cross country runs?  I need to decide if I need to buy trail for trails, AND spikes for XC - or can I get away with just trail shoes (I'm not high class, so if it costs me a few seconds here and there, that's OK,)   Cheers

Edit... gotta comment on that photo Ian.  Good photo, and comically delivered!

+1 for the New Balance 110. Did my first 50k in them this year. A bargain at less than £40 at Sports Direct.

I got some NB 110's from Amazon for about £35. Feel good so far.

Have to say I've heard a lot of good things about Talon 212's, the blurb on the inov 8 site certainly gives them a lot of hype. 

I'm currently in the market for a new pair of trail shoes, Went for some Addidas Kanadia instead of the Talons and the Kandia's have died, I regret it now as the Talons were on offer in Go Outdoors for £50 at the time!.  Can't find a pair cheap at the mo, the cheapest I've found is £70.  Ricardo, have you found any cheaper on line or are the ones you speak of through a friend??

I think mine are the NB MTE110's. They are black with funny shiny greeny bits! I think they are absolutely fab. Really light, fantastic grip, hard-wearing sole which so far is not wearing at all, despite some road use. Comfortable to wear, even for road stretches, despite being very low profile and light. My last pair of off-roaders were a goretex pair and there is no way at all I'm going back there! Easy in, easy out is the only sensible approach to take to water.

My only gripes would be that because they are cut so low round the ankle, they don't feel so secure (I've not had a problem, but do worry slightly if it is really boggy that I'll lose one), and debris gets in where the tongue meets the shoe.