Road Shoes

Road shoes are where most of the marketing money goes, which means most of the hype lives here too. Carbon plates, super foam, rocker geometry — some of it's genuinely useful, some of it's nonsense.

We run in every road shoe for at least 80km before we write a word, because a shoe that feels great on a 5K shakeout can feel very different at mile 20 of a marathon. Daily trainers get used as daily trainers. Race day shoes get raced in. Recovery shoes get worn when your legs are actually hammered.

The carbon plate question is real, but it's not the whole story. Whether a £250 super shoe is worth it depends entirely on what you're trying to do and how fast you're going. We're honest about where the meaningful performance gains are and where you're paying for brand cachet.

Dan Hollis leads the road shoe coverage. He's been running road marathons for years and is refreshingly unimpressed by spec sheets.