with the fast, grippy 904. But if you like the old-style trail shoes for their chunky protection, you could do worse than the 704. It’s only moderately responsive and its grip is only good enough for forest trails and grass, but it’s not overly heavy, its ride

Weight 378gEvaluation Nike’s top-end trail shoes had gone off the boil over the last couple of years because they showcased the company’s flat, sticky-rubber G-Tek outsoles. These outsoles were great on dry surfaces, but hopeless on mud, so Nike

Weight 347gEvaluation This is a great trail shoe. Nike describes it as utilitarian, which is true, and about as understated as hype gets. The grip is probably the best you’ll experience outside of a fell shoe, from deep, well-spaced waffle lugs. It

Weight 309gEvaluation Think of the Perigree as a performance trainer for the trails. It’s light, responsiveand grippy, and our faster testers loved it. Because the foot sits low to the ground, and because – unusually – it has good grip

. The reality is that if you wanted to place well in a two-day race like the X-Adventure, you’d go for a lighter trail shoe than this. It’s not bad, though – it’s like an old-style, protective trail shoe in the rearfoot, with a flexible, performance

is fairly light and smooth (and it has a nice roomy toe-box), it’s not a head-to-head alternative to a good normal trail shoe. That’s for two reasons: it’s bulkier than normal under the rearfoot, and its grip is moderate in mud. In short If you want a fairly

Weight 390gEvaluation You probably know about adventure racing by now. It’s the off-road run-bike-kayak competition that can take anywhere from six hours to six days non-stop. Some racers wear fast, grippy trail shoes from running brands. Others

Weight 340gEvaluation Salomon has done a good job of making the Flagstaff its most runnable shoe yet. Even pure trail-running shoes aren’t normally this light, and yet it’s more protective than nearly all of them. That’s good and bad. Good because

Weight 355gEvaluation The Mizuno Wildwood is a throwback to a time when manufacturers met the needs of the off-road market by modifying road shoes. Bolt on a rugged outsole and a more durable upper and hey presto, you are in the trail business

- although a more flexible forefoot does ensure a smoother, more responsive ride than before. The upper and midsole point to a tough off-road shoe, but the Crested Butte has never really convinced on the trails, and this version's outsole seems mainly road