This is a review of 2 halves - my new(ish) daps from the extremes of the market: Inov8 at the top, and More Mile Cheviot Pace at the bottom. Both trainers are supposed to serve the same function of hard packed trails, the tread on the lugs for both is intermediate.
Inov8 Trailroc 285
A good friend of mine has had to give-up running on the advice of his quack after having his knee rebuilt - unfortunately for him he had recently bought a pair of Inov8 Trailrocs and they now sat there with only about 50 miles on them mugging him off in his hallway, so he wanted shot of them and asked what size I was… Fortunately for me, the same as him!
Being a tight-arse I never tend to go above £30 for a pair of trainers, with the most I’ve ever spaffed on a pair being £45, so Inov8 have never really been an option for me with their retail mark being £50 if you’re very lucky in the sales up to around £120, with this pair sitting at £70-£130 in the market place depending on where you shop.
I’ve been out and about in them for a few months now over various distances from 5 miles to 50k and have found them to be very comfortable and absolutely ideal for hard-packed trails. With the reinforced toe-box they seem to be the perfect shoe for those hard-packed mountainous lake-district trails… Just a shame to think I won’t be able to get up there to try them out.
They compare quite well to my Scarpa Neutron 2’s which are designed for the same purpose, however I find the Scarpas to be a bit more comfortable and the grip to be better all round.
While effusing over their ability on hard packed trails, the first time I took them out for a spin it was for the last of the Southern Cross Country League races where we had a mix of trails - on the hard packed and mettled sections they were great, but when the slightest bit of mud came into play, dear god they were shite! I was all over the place like Bambi on ice. The shallow lugs offered 4/5 of fuck all in traction at the merest hint of mud, to the point running was impossible and even walking in anything slightly muddy was sketchy in the extreme!
I’m up to 225 miles in them now and to be truthful they are showing wear and tear on the upper of the right foot - though strangely not on the left! Also on the soles, the lugs are now rapidly scrubbing down to nothing on the outstep of the heels, a product of the way I run and the trails being like concrete at present with us having had fuck-all rain since I’ve had them! Looking at how the upper will eventually fail, hopefully it will not be a structural issue and allow for more wear and hopefully get me up to around the 350 miles marker - as a comparison I’m over 400 miles into the Scarpas and the only wear and damage on those are from falls.
More Mile Cheviot Pace
When I saw that More Mile had brought out an intermediate tread trail trainer which was essentially the same as their Cheviot but with far less of a lug to them I had been intrigued. Normally I run in Karrimor trainers for intermediate trails, which have till now been priced around the £30 mark, however they seem to have upped their starting price to £40 and coupled with the fact they are made by Sports Direct, the ethically problematic retailer with how it treats its staff, the time to give the Cheviot Pace a try had arrived.
Most of my recent running has been in the Trailrocs, however I have managed to rack-up to 80 miles in them so enough to give them a review - and as you’d expect they are not showing damage at present.
Grip-wise these are like chalk & cheese to the Trailrocs, behaving as you would hope in the mud, providing enough traction but nowhere near as much as their bigger brothers’ do - which is completely understandable. Fit wise they are roomy for me, even with my flippers for feet, however they do fall-down in one regard: comfort.
As with the other Cheviots, they are a bit spartan in the cushioning department. That has never been too much of an issue when out on the soft winter trails as the terrain itself offers some cushioning, however with the very dry spell we’ve had for the last few months, I’ve found the Cheviot Pace’s to give the soles of my feet a bit of a battering with the lack of cushioning, to the point I’m considering putting insoles in them for going out on the harder trails, or just forget about them until the trails are a bit softer and rely on my Asics in the meantime.
I suppose the question is would I buy another pair of either of them? Once I’ve trashed this pair of Trailrocs… You know what, probably not - I would be more likely to give a go to the Scarpa Spin RS8’s which are the replacement for the Neutrons (once I’ve gone through those as well), which come in at slightly cheaper than the Inov8’s however at £68 they would be the most expensive pair of trainers I’ve bought, although at in excess of 400 miles before the Neutron’s failed I think that is decent enough value for money.
On the Cheviot Pace front - I’ve already bought a second pair in anticipation of the demise of the first - mostly because the price point of them is what I would hope to pay for a pair of trainers, and so long as I can manage the discomfort factor of concrete hard trails, which is not really what they are for running on, I’ll be fine!
Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.
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