NorthernRunner.com Blog

Thought all Hoka One One shoes were soft and pilllow-like? The Hoka Zinal is different. It is fast, responsive and agile.  The current crop of Hoka trail shoes use very soft midsoles to absorb the lumps and bums of the trail in a similar way to fat chunky Mountain Bike Tyres. The Hoka Zinal is more like your Cyclo Cross bike. You can feel what you are standing on and your feet can then respond accordingly which makes you much lighter on your feet and more agile. The shoes are... Read More

La Sportiva is an Italian brand that makes products for using in the Mountain. Whether your passion is Walking, Running or Climbing they have products for you. It is no surprise that they their running shoes all have a mountain influence. The Bushido II is designed for use on high mountain trail above the tree line. Rocky single tracks where you need feel for the ground to be light on your feet but, also require some protection from the protruding rocks. There isn’t a lot of this type of running... Read More

Altra shoes are designed to allow your feet the room to function inside the shoes and for you to run in a more natural upright posture. The shoes have a broad rounded toe box so that your feet can spread on impact. This helps you absorb shock, stabilise and spring into your next step. All the Altra shoes are zero drop to promote a more midfoot strike. This means that you load the foot in the best way to utilise the cushion and spring from your feet. The Altra Timp... Read More

Altra shoes are designed to allow the foot to function within the shoes and allow you to run with a more natural midfoot strike and upright posture. This is achieved by making the shoes Zero Drop, which means that the height of the midsole at the heel is the same as the height of the midsole in the forefoot. The shoe is ‘flat’.  The forefoot is broad and rounded to allow the foot to spread on impact when you land on your midfoot. This gives you cushioning, stability and natural ‘spring’... Read More

The Brooks Cascadia 16 is very different to the previous models. The purpose of the shoe is still the same it is designed to be an all-round trail shoe. However, the fit and shape of the shoe has changed. The base of the Cascadia is now broader through the midfoot. This is a very similar shape to the neutral Brooks road shoe the Dyad. The shape brings a very stable feel to the ride. The toe box is less pointed than most Brooks shoes. Again, very similar in shape to... Read More

All Topo shoes have a very distinctive shape. The toe box is broad and rounded to give your feet the space to spread out on impact and function inside the shoes. This gives the runner natural cushioning from their feet, stability and allows your foot to spring you into your next stride. If you aren’t used to a broad, rounded toe box and you don’t have broad feet then shoes of this type will feel roomy when you first put them on. If you have been running in shoes with... Read More

VJ is a Finish brand founded in 1981 by a shoemaker that was an orienteering enthusiast. He wanted to make shoes that where tough enough to cope with the rigours of orienteering and offer great grip on the rough ground that orienteers race over. For those unfamiliar with orienteering, the object of the time trial is to visit each of the checkpoints in order and as fast as possible. This means that orienteers don’t follow the paths and regularly bash through the undergrowth in their quest to find the fastest... Read More

Altra started life as a running shoe brand designed to allow the feet to function naturally within the shoes. All Altra shoes are zero drop to promote a more mid foot landing and have a broad rounded toe box to give your feet the room to spread on impact. This gives you cushioning from your own feet, stabilises you and springs you into your next step. As Altra has grown and the brand has been bought and sold new designers have come in who didn’t believe in the concept of... Read More

I am more confident than ever that Scott, despite being known more for their brilliant trail running shoes, are going to move fast within the road running shoes market. The Palani and Palani Support were incredibly popular shoes at Northern Runner in Newcastle, where customers got to try on a brand of shoe that would maybe not have known before visiting. This was mainly down to the eRide rocker, which has been upgraded in their brand new Scott Pursuit. eRide is a curved midsole designed to reduce heel strike and... Read More

Scott have been making sports gear using carbon fibre since 1989 when Greg Lemond used carbon aero handle bars on his road racing bike to help him win the 1989 Tour de France. Scott first put a carbon plate in a running shoe in 2007. The Scott Speed Carbon RC one of the new breed of road racing shoes that uses a carbon plate inside the shoes to help the runner go faster. Scott has built on 10 years of R and D to design this shoe. It is designed... Read More