two eyelets. Plenty of room in the toe box area which is always a concern with me as I have quite wide feet.

Initial testI’m an ex-boxer so I always put my shoes

through some footwork drills to see how they react, and first impressions were good. Being a trail runner, I want a shoe that’s responsive to all foot positions, is stable and gives me plenty of control when changing direction fast. The mesh upper seemed to breath well and due to the seamless design I didn’t notice any areas where possible chaffing might occur.

On the roadFirst proper test run was a 10km road

section and I found them not very responsive – although that may just have been me – at a slow steady pace. I actually found them a little firm and stiff. They do seemed to be quite a fast design shoe for the quicker more fluid pace, so once I warmed up and was able to pick up the pace they seemed to respond a bit better, again that may have just been me.

Comfort & fit: 9 Overall fit was comfortable out of the box, secure around the heel and midfoot once lacing was adjusted. Opens up in the toe box allowing room. No-sew seamless upper conforms nicely to the shape of the foot.

Responsiveness & speed on the trails: 8 Fast, light and responsive. This shoe is designed to make you move forward with the 8mm heel to toe drop and is smooth, efficient and light. The EVA CRADLE™ technology effectively guides the foot through a smooth and efficient toe-off.

Agility: 8 Good trail feel on smooth compact dirt track or compact single track trails. They are low to the ground, agile and in my opinion again, just not comfortable or suitable on very rocky or rugged terrain.

On the road (long distances at a slower pace): 5 A fast design shoe, which requires a nice fluid fairly slick pace for it to respond, but gives little comfort from the pavement at a slow steady pace ideally. I’d say ideal for short road sections either to the trails or in between trails.

Overall assessment: Good, tough, well-constructed trail shoe, but designed for the more mechanically sound runner. It has a good soft flexible and breath-able mesh upper which molds well to the foot and having no seams will reduce chaffing areas. In my opinion, the Hyper-Track Guide is good for smooth compact trails and dirt tracks, as well as for short fast road intervals. The minimalist design with the 8mm heel to toe drop will require a good work up to long runs for some runners that are not used to the more minimal shoe, but there is the 16mm option as well.

Lee Harris

Although I am used to a low heel to toe drop and the more natural running form, I am also used to more cushioning. This comes in handy over the first few kilome-ters as I warm up, so this may have been why I felt them to be stiff, a little firm and unresponsive.

Off-road and on the trailsMy normal trails consist of a rough rugged

shattered rock and technical terrain with some smooth compact dirt tracks, so I look for a shoe that can handle both.

For the smooth compact gravel dirt tracks, the Hyper-Track Guide do come into their own. They responded well as you are able to maintain a more fluid natural stride. The shoe is light and agile with plenty of support and control from the EVA CRADLE™ Sys-tem, which biomechanically guides the foot through to toe-off to promote this, helping to correct any pronation problems on the uneven ground. It also allows you to change pace and direction as well as foot position without issue. The only downside is that the grip could be a little better for steeper climbs.Once I hit the more technical rocky terrain I wasn’t so happy. Although the shoe provides control and are very agile and flexible, in my opinion, there just isn’t enough protec-tion around the midfoot upper. Due to the minimalist design, you’re very low to the ground which makes your foot vulnerable to rocks and debris, also there didn’t seem to be enough cushioning /protection in the mid to forefoot area of the sole. My feet felt like they had been worked over by a mean re-flexologist after only a short bit of technical wadi rock action.

So my rating (1 to 10, where 10 is best): Construction: 8A good all round well-built shoe with tough rugged soles. Good breathable and seam-less flexible mesh upper for reducing chaff-ing areas. But in my opinion, may need more protection around the sides of the midfoot area from rocks and debris – possibly some extra welded rubber overlays!

The North Face Hyper-Track Guide review

PRODUCT REVIEW

Firstly, who am I…My name is Lee and I’m a trail runner who runs the rough, rugged and challenging moun-tain and desert trails here in the UAE. I started running trail a few years ago and got completely hooked, and I now spend most of my time here running 100+ km of trail a week around the Hajar Mountain region and the deserts outside of Dubai. So what is the Hyper-Track Guide?

Basically, it’s one of The North Face’s new-est road to trail shoe for mechanically sound runners, supporting their EVA CRADLE™ System, which is designed to promote a more biomechanically efficient stride on smooth trails or road. The North Face CRA-DLE™ Guide technology is engineered with a full-length, dual density EVA midsole that works with the foot to provide fluid guidance through the entire gait cycle. CRADLE™ Guide is tuned to specific activities, in this case trail running, and is designed to provide a combination of cushioning, stability and protection for any gait on any terrain. The Hyper-Track Guide design utilises a combi-

nation of TNF’s Comfortable EVA Northotic™ footbed which rests atop the CRADLE™ GUIDE dual-density midsole, this is aimed to correct overpronation and enhance your natural stride. Abrasion-resistant rubber pods are strategically placed on the soles to provide additional traction on the trail. Feature details include :• TPU-welded support overlays• C-Delta metatarsal fit system• Perforated EVA Northotic™ footbed• BOTTOM/ TPU and dual-injection, EVA

CRADLE GUIDE™ midsole platform• 16mm/8mm heel/forefoot heights• Strategically positioned, high-abrasion

rubber outsole pods

Ok, first impressions out of the box: they did look like a very slick road running shoe, not the rugged trail shoe I expected; still a very aesthetically pleasing shoe to look at; fairly minimalist in design and lightweight coming in at approximately 268g depending on size. Well-constructed with a soft flexible seamless mesh upper with noticeable heel clip for support and to lock the heel in place, but still allow torsional flexibility. The sole seemed quite firm and tough, although still relatively flexible.

On the footVery comfortable straight out of the box;

the soft mesh seamless upper was very light and breathable and molded nicely around the foot. The heel was supported well, although a bit loose fitting with the standard lace pattern. I had to adjust lacing using top

Words By: Lee Harris

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