In the spring of 2010, I was in my local Milton Running Free store looking to grab another pair of my usual trail runners in the Salomon XT Wings. I’ve been wearing Salomon’s since I noticed their high profile in adventure racing about 8 years ago – the days of the flashy blue and yellow XA Pros. Since then, Salomon has made huge headway into the general trail running market, especially with the XT Wing line introduced a few years ago. I’ve usually stuck with the Salomon shoes, although I have tried a few other brands, but was not as happy hitting the trails as I was with my trusty XA Pros or XT Wings.
While browsing the new features of the XT Wings 2 of 2010, my eyes were drawn to a flamboyant red and yellow of a new Salomon shoe – the S-LAB2 version of the XT Wings. Whoa! I picked them up and immediately noticed how light they were (60g lighter than the XT Wings 2). I also noticed that they appeared less bulky than the non-SLAB version – using a more stripped down fabric on the outside upper material of the shoe.
I decided I had to have them so I quickly made the purchase and proceeded to test them out on my local trail haunt on the Bruce trail near Crawford Lake. I really noticed how light (and therefore fast) they felt and as I hit the technical wet mossy sections of trail noticed they had the typical awesome outsole grip care of the patented Contagrip. They had passed the trail running test with flying (red) colours. But with the lack of outside fabric how would these perform under race conditions, specifically adventure racing conditions?
I am happy to say after taking them to the Dakota Rogaining Champs, Frontier Adventure Challenge, Wilderness Traverse and just recently Untamed New England races, they have been my shoe of choice for any adventure race. I also brought them to the tough and technical Ultimate XC 56K trail race at Tremblant, where they also excelled. I think the secret might be out though, these shoes are becoming a very common sight in the trail running and adventure racing world. With good reason too… I would probably say these are the best Salomon’s I have ever owned (also making them the best trail runners I have ever owned). If you haven’t checked them out, please do so and take them for a stroll around your favorite trail… I think you’ll be very happy with these! They can be found here and at your local Running Free.
have you been using teh exact same pair for all of these races, or have you trashed a few in the process?
thanks,
jodi
Hey Jodi,
So far I’ve been using the same initial pair, although I just replaced the laces this week after Untamed. I’ve got 60+ hours on them according to my training log, probably half running, half trekking so I’m likely due for a new pair soon. But so far they have held up very well considering how light they are and the conditions I have put them through!
Hey Harps,
Great review, I agree. I’ve used a pair of the S-LAB’s for the following events this summer: Ultimate XC (56k trail run), Untamed New England (3 Day expedition race) and also for a run around the Killarney Loop (80+k trail run and easily the most technical trail in Ontario). They’re my new favourite trail & AR shoe. My feet haven’t felt so comfortable & spry after long runs for years, great shoes!
Cheers,
Bob