As above, looking to do a little more trail running for the new year and I am finding my trusty New Balance RC1400 are a little uncomfortable on the rocky hard trail here. Is there a running shoe that’s good for both general road running and hitting the trail, I’m not a pro just need something hard wearing and comfortable (not fussed about any wet weather properties)?

I’ve found Nike Pegasus to be a good shoe.

Salomon XR crossmax

Do you usually mix trail and road on the same run? If not, just get some trail shoes and depending on what you’re planning on doing wear one pair or the other.

I’ve used my La Sportiva Raptors on road, although only when doing the linking bits between trails – they work fine, but the sole wouldn’t last long if I were doing serious road milage with them.

I use the Inov8 Terrafly 313. I have other shoes for muddy trail running and pure road running but when I’m doing a bit of both in the same run or the trails are hard and dusty or I’m running on boggin mucky wet country roads out come the terraflys.

Through Amazon they can also be had for half price too if they happen to have your size.

Cheers for the feedback. Going to be running a mix as most trail runs for me involve a few k’s of tarmac, plus tend to run a simple pre-breakfast 5k road run in the mornings.

As someone who runs and races on most surfaces (although not much track of recent years :() why do people insist on recommending aggressive Fell shoes for trail and xc running. As above, Pegasus would be a good mix of cushioning, support and grip, plus a bit cheaper and likely to be more robust than a studded fell shoe.

Brooks Cascadia (7) are my go to trail/tarmac shoe.
Think they’re about to launch version 9 now so you will be able to pick the older ones up cheaper.
I haven’t tried version 8 but the 7s have been so good I got a spare pair as they were about half price.
Have been great in all conditions up to horrendous slop but then not much will cope with that and be useable on tarmac.
Cope really well with rocks and uneven surfaces and sound ideal for what you want to do.
However I would go and try them as Brooks are not for everyone although they do offer width fitting choices

I use Sal’s Speedcross 3’s for 90% trail running and 10% road and I also use Saucony ProGrid Peregrine for 30-40% road 60-70% trails.

Clearly the Speedcross has more agressive tread and a larer padded heal but they are excellent and light and fit me.
I bought the Sauc’s as I sometimes use road to get to-get back from trals and needed something with less agressive sole and I found these at Runners Need downstairs (from the office) so I had a fitting with a number of shoes and these were/are by far the best for me. I really like them a lot.

As for shoes in general, do try to get something that fits, I had a couple of fittings and trial runs and I’ glad I spent the time, don’t forget you will be using them in different conditions, try to pick somethig that fits that rather than what looks nice.. 😉

Another Terrafly recommendation here. I run predominately on trails with short road linkage sections and they perform brilliantly. Only just starting to run out of grip now the trails are getting filthy.

How much do you want to spend, what’s your rough percentage split tarmac/trail and what are the trails like in diffreent seasons – will you run on them year round…?

That’s then your start point for deciding which shoes might fit the bill. Personally, I have Inov8 Trailroc 245 for trail running and will wear them year round, split 20/80% tarmac trail on generally well-draining hard packed or loamy trails with some mud in the autumn/winter; alternatively, I have La Sportiva CRosslites for the fells, split 5/95 at most and ranging from dry, rocky Lakes to boggy Peak in summer, snow in winter.

If you’re going for more road than trail you could go for anything from Adidas Kanadia, or similar, to something like the Inov8 F series. It all depends on the bias of tarmac v trail how aggressive a sole you go for, but you probably really don’t need a proper fell shoe as, aside from anything, they’re not fun running on tarmac and you’ll wear them out in no time.

Whatever sports direct have got on sale?

That’s probably the wrong answer, but I got some cheap ones for running some the footpaths. Found I got really cold feet and my ankles were sore after about 10 miles or so, also slipped all over the place (and fell over) . Might be best I stick to roads! LOL

As someone who runs and races on most surfaces (although not much track of recent years :() why do people insist on recommending aggressive Fell shoes for trail and xc running. As above, Pegasus would be a good mix of cushioning, support and grip, plus a bit cheaper and likely to be more robust than a studded fell shoe.

But What about the gnarr shred factor?

+1 for the Pegasus. Probably easier to pick up on the cheap than my recommended Salmonman XR Crossmax. Which just happen to be a great shoe, if you see them cheap(ish). I’ve done quite a few 25-38m runs in them and they really are a good compromise for mixed but easy surfaces.

Salomon XR crossmax

^^^ I’d second this. I’ve had 3 pairs of them now. I tried switching to Inov8 Flyroc 295’s for no other reason than i felt like a change. They kill my hips and knees though, great on soft surfaces, and very good grip, but they are not all rounders for me. I now use them for weight training as they are pretty solid and low profile.

Obviously it’s a very individual thing, but as jack of all trade shoes go i can’t fault the Crossmax.

Hi, looks like i will be busy at the weekend.
Currently its a 70/30 split on tarmac but hope to move more to trail running over the next few months. The trails here are hard compacted soil with lots of broken stone steps, basically hard, dry and dusty so I guess I will not need an aggressive shoe, budget is not really an issue.

Brooks Trail Demon works for my fat feet on local bridleways. They’re a bit out of their depth when you end up running across rutted fields or in deep mud but they’re a decent compromise for road and trail

Saucony Jazz.. of a variety. Cheap £35 ish and great for a mixture of road/off road. I use them on runs where 50/50 might be on road/muddy moor land and they are great. OK you slip a bit on the mud, but not that much.

Agree with the comments above about not recommending shoes that are very much fell/proper off road shoes.

Adidas Kanadia for me matey. need at least one size more than normal though. That was in Kanadia 4. Don’t know if Kanadia 5 has rectified this sizing anomaly.