Kit Review – Brooks Cascadia 9, OMM Kamleika II Race Jacket & Ultimate Direction AK Race Vest

In my Endure24 Race Report I mentioned buying 3 bits of kit that I found essential for the race and all of which performed excellently. Here I review each of them briefly.

Brooks Cascadia 9 Trail Running Shoe – RRP £109 Paid £83 ratrace.com

I bought these shoes 2 weeks before Endure24 as my Adidas Kanadia TR6 had a large hole in them, which would only worsen in the expected conditions (OK they were much worse than expected.)

I am an Adidas fan and was looking to buy another pair of Kanadia but the Cascadia 9 had received a good review in Outdoor Fitness Magazine. From what I understand previous incarnations of this shoe had been ok, but not for serious trail runners. These though have been completely redesigned and the review and an offer in the RatRace Store persuaded me to give them a go.

I’m not going to list all the specifications and technology in these shoes, you can do that here. Instead I’ll give you my experience of using them.

My first couple of test runs in them were a couple of jaunts at Greenham Common, which is a mainly dusty/gravelly/stoney route and the Cascadia performed well. I had bought a size larger than I actually am and this proved a wise decision. There is plenty of room in the toe box and the shoes were comfortable throughout the short run outs.

The lacing system looks pretty standard, although the laces are laced through the tongue twice and this does seem to give some extra confidence that the shoes won’t slip.

So I headed in to Endure with confidence in my new purchase, but the conditions would give them a real test. As the rain came down the route became extremely difficult in several sections. Large puddles formed, wooded areas became boggy and several hills resembled rivers of chocolate custard.

I can say that the Cascadia handle them all very well. Firstly as you would expect when going through a puddle they took on a lot of water, but they expelled it again very quickly and at no time did I feel like there was an excess slopping around inside the shoe. 

Its fair to say that I am not the most confident of runner on uneven and difficult surfaces, but I felt a lot more confident wearing the Cascadia. Again I can’t underestimate how difficult the conditions were and although my feet could slip in different directions the shoe would find grip pretty quickly and I never actually felt I was going to go down.

In thick mud the shoe remain securely attached to my foot and never felt like it could be yanked off and on the tarmaced sections they were as many road shoes. I think the biggest plaudit I can give the Cascadia is that I managed 45 miles in them without having to change socks and without any rubbing or blisters. If you are looking for a pair of trail shoes I cannot recommend them highly enough and I certainly can’t wait to give them another run out.

OMM Kamleika II Race Jacket – RRP £159 Paid £129 wiggle.co.uk

I’ve bought loads of “waterproof” jackets over the years with varying success. They basically fell into 2 categories, those that kept the rain out, but made me overheat so much that the sweat meant I was wet anyway or those that kept me cool, but kept the rain out as long as it wasn’t to hard and lasted less than 5 mins. What all these jackets had in common was that they all cost less than £50, in most cases much less!

Having spent a bit of time with people who take there kit very seriously and competed in events spanning several hours I knew that if you want the best kit very rarely can you get away with skimping on the cost.

So with this in mind and the weather report for Endure24 showing periods of heavy rain forecast, I knew I needed a jacket that would perform. After a bit of research it came down to a choice of 2 and I plumped for the OMM because I knew someone else who had one.

I started the race wearing the jacket, but as it had stopped raining and the June sun was shining I had to take it off after a couple of miles as I was getting warm. The Kamleika II is very thin and very light so folding it up to fit in my race pack was easy.

It wasn’t long before the rain returned and boy did it return with a vengeance. Luckily I was undercover when it first started so was able to get the jacket on over dry clothes. As I headed out into the torrential rain I quickly realised my purchase was a good one. There was no way the water was getting in, yet as I ran along I remained cool. 

The hood can be tightened to fit the largest or smallest of heads and the peak at the front stops water dripping into your eyes. 2 large pockets mean you can carry some essential kit or OS maps.

Essentially you get what you pay for.

Ultimate Direction AK Race Pack RRP £85 Paid £74.80 wiggle.co.uk

There are more and more race vests like this coming on to the market as more people attempt the move in to Ultra Marathons and Endurance events. As I knew I could visit my tent at the end of each lap I didn’t need a vest that could carry mountains of kit and food.

A Twitter friend had recently bought one of the larger Ultimate Direction race packs and so I decided to give them a go. The AK is their smallest offering and comes with 2 600ml bottles, has 4 pockets at the front and a main compartment for kit or a reservoir.

The 2 larger front pockets are described as smart phone pockets, but my iPhone 5S didn’t fit, but that wasn’t a concern they came in plenty hand to hold food. The water bottles are good and seal well. The teat/nipple you drink through is interesting and needs to be pulled up to be able to use properly. Something that several reviewers on the wiggle site hadn’t worked out! 

The vest comes in 2 sizes S/M and M/L. Im a 44in chest and the M/L fitted well and larger person would also have no worries. The 2 should straps and comfortable as are the chest straps. Most importantly with hydration systems is the amount of “bounce” you get. The AK had none, even when the bottles were full.

At night the back is highly reflective and received several comments from fellow runners as they passed. Another piece of kit I would highly recommend.