ST runners,
I’m soon to do an xc race which will be muddy and my running shoes are super slippy in these conditions. Not wanting to add to the family shoe mountain by buying some innov8s – does anyone use cleats for off road running? Noticed these but many of them seem to be more for snow or ice..

thoughts appreciated

nb fully aware that using the grippy tyres on my bike is a much more sensible option

Racing at speed on those things looks awful. Let alone standard XC race pace.

Might seem an odd question. But what soil type will you encounter on this XC race.

clay AF

I reckon those would clog up very quickly. When I ran XC on clay I used Walsh PBs as the tread pattern cleared relatively quickly. Every other shoe I tried just turned into huge lumps of mud.

That’s ploughed fields and rivers territory, not edge of town country parks territory.

Something like Icespikes might help. https://www.icespike.com/

What about a set of cross country spike like these, then you can spend time agonising about choosing the right length of spike.
Can be entertaining/painfull on solid surfaces when you realise that trail shoes were a better bet.

Those look grim for mud. IMO.

I’m guessing horrible. I’ve got some Kahtoola spikes but I’ve only used them once. Fell shoes are pretty good in the (right kind of) snow. But yes, that link is a bodge for snow/ice conditions and probably not much fun to run in.

Do you mean xc as in league xc race? In which case spikes for sure. Or some kind of trail/ obstacle race? If it’s a one off, wear what you brung. My fiirst spikes were 17 quid – you might get lucky online, it’s the right end of the season.