Due to a wonderful November and beginning of December I have had a great opportunity to log some substantial miles in some Salomon XT Hawk’s. This should be my “off season” but with near perfect weather for the last 6 weeks it has been hard to resists some late fall trail running in some truly amazing shoes.
Those unfamiliar with the XT Hawk would be pleased to know that Salomon has created a very quick and light (lightest trail running shoe offered by Salomon) trail shoe that is happy on multiple terrain. The Hawk shares many of the same features as the XT Wing in the mid-sole -triple density EVA with Agile Chassis Skeleton (works beautifully), heel and forefoot -Agile Cell foam (cushioning yet surprisingly not too soft). Weight is saved by trimming down some of the bulkiness of the Wing’s, most noticeably in the heel where by the Hawk heel is quite narrow. This narrow heel really adds to the overall quickness and responsiveness of the shoe. I do feel that the agility of the Hawk over the Wing is better as well, on me the shoe fits tighter than the Wing, thus moves better with me on technical trail.
So back to my last 6 weeks with my Hawk’s. I live in Orillia and am fortunate enough to have access to some of the best trail running in Ontario minutes from my house. One of my favourite parts of the Fall running season is a chance to get out of just enjoy running again. Speed work and hill repeats are long forgotten and long fun, and as always fast, runs are all that matter. The Hawk’s have performed well right out of the box and because of the weather in November (no snow) I have run everything on my back yard. This usually means dirt roads and paved roads to get from one trail to the next but the “hard stuff” just meant a quick flowing shoe
It truly does do a great job of flowing well on hard pack terrrain and because of the tight and low profile fit responds the way an excellent trail shoe should.
The XT Hawk definitely hits a very important shoe type in the trail running world, this being the hybrid. This meaning excellent off road and smooth and fast on. I do feel that having a shoe like the Hawk that is light, agile and aggressive is the future of all successful trail shoes.
