Are sealskins still the default or can anyone suggest any other thin waterproof running sock for a stupidly wet 12mile off road race I have next week?

Give up, you’ll never keep your feet dry, and even if you do they’ll still feel wet because the shoe/sock will be cold.

Interested in this.. my sealskins (a few years onld now) work well but are a bit too thick so I find they don’t work great for running.. although admittedly this is running in bike shoes. Because of this I tend just to wear normal socks for cx races, but I’d rather have thin waterproof socks for wet muddy days if I could.

What mol says – if it’s a stupidly wet and muddy race, then you’ll end up getting water inside the socks anyway and waterproof stuff doesn’t drain or dry out that quickly. You’re better off wearing quick-drying running shoes to be honest. I’ve made the mistake of wearing gore-tex running shoes for a very wet and muddy race…just the once. Never again.

As above, I’m not sure they work for running too thick and you’ll sweat.
My options are:
If running properly then thin merino socks keep wet feet warm.
If running gently or stood around then Asics GTX or Nike Shield shoes are semi-waterproof and work well, but you’re feet can get very sweaty.

Anything waterproof on your feet for running offroad is a bad idea. They’ll just fill up with water / sweat and your feet will be sloshing around in little bags of water.

Agreed, waterproof is not the correct answer, you will never able to stay dry, so the only option is wet and warm.

Some woolen socks, Running Bear used to be a good option but seem to have got thinner. Some of the cheap Planet X ones are surprisingly good. I have some with a skull on or something and they are great.

I’ve been running the very wet and muddy trails around here in our Hebtroco woollen socks that are made in Bradford.

Only done 6 miles per session so far but they are working so well we’re looking at repackaging with a running twist.

Wool Socks

Great answers, I actually hadn’t considered those issues. I have two pairs of inox8 shoes, talons and some goretex ones, and knowing the route, lots of thick mud climbs with the rain we have, the talons were beginning to seem like the best choice so I’ll quckly look about for some merino socks instead.

I love my toe socks but I did a hardmoors recently and my feet were wet for hours I couldn’t feel them half the time 🙁 nothing useful to add other than commenting to subscribe to post

I’ve never had cold feet running, I Reckon the movement keeps my feet warm, not like the static position of biking.

As above, shoes that drain well and good warm socks, wooly boolys or the likes.

One ultra recently had us going through a flooded lane, knee deep for over 200 metres, with 15 off the 40 miles to go.

GTX shoes or socks would’ve been a nightmare tbh.

I have used neoprene socks for really cold/wet running. ie running through snow. I wear them with a thin liner sock inside. They can get a bit soggy inside, but better than freezing feet.
And they can be a bit bulky, may not fit in your shoes. Maybe worth getting winter shoes, in a slightly larger size.

For cold, dry weather, Endura Thermolite socks are not bad.