34 FOOT MAR10 footfocus:Footwear_Jan10_p30 04/03/2010 11:39 Page 34
Footwear Focus:
Road Test
Outdoor footwear
O
ne does not have to be either a supporter of Britain’s military
intervention in Iraq or Afghanistan to be proud of the
performance of our troops working under very difficult
conditions. Nor, does one have to be appalled by the reports of
absent or inferior supplies with which they are being equipped.
So, it is cheering when one hears of a company that is working
with the army to develop a product that will cope with the
demanding pressures that young fit people will impose on it. The PT- moor the track firmed up: in places it was stony in others grass
03 WINTER running shoe took over 12 months to develop with the covered. I was delighted by the stability and comfort of the PT-03.
British Army Physical Training Corps before going through final wear They have a very robust build and you have a sense of security that
testing with the British Army in Norway. lends an ease to your pace.
Although their makers are a privately owned British company they I used to live near the Royal Marine training camp and would see
claim, “UK Gear is fast becoming the ‘performance brand of choice’ the soldiers on their training runs when they would relentlessly
for military personnel across the world”. They support this with a pound the tracks on the common above Lympstone in all weathers. I
claim to supply gear not only to the British Armed Forces but the US cannot imagine a better shoe for that type of treatment: soldiers run
Army, US Air Force Academy, US Military Academy West Point, US for work, they are not doing it as a hobby. The PT-03 is less like a
Coast Guard, Federal Defence Forces of Germany, GROM Polish recreational running shoe and more like a heavy-duty work tool –
Special Forces and the Ghurkha’s. Additionally UK Gear is approved but without being heavy, they are very light weight shoes despite
by the US Army Running Shoe Program. being solidly built.
Irritatingly there was no snow when the PT-03 shoes arrived for With the imaginary sergeant major bellowing in my ears I felt
testing and the editor of Footwear Today stubbornly refused to send obliged to risk life and limb (the things I do for the editor of
me to an alpine ski resort, claiming budgetary pressures. More Footwear Today). I decided to plunge into a bog. Dartmoor bogs are
irritatingly, the day I started testing the shoes the worst winter legendary. It is said if the second step you take into a bog covers
weather to hit the US east coast in 90 years was earning dramatic your feet your third step should be backwards (i.e. out of the bog the
epithets like “'Snowpocalypse” and “Snowmageddon” – just the way you came from)!
conditions for a “winter shoe”. The bogs exist because some of the vast granite mass that is
The shoes have no hint of the military about them – they are not Dartmoor eroded in scallops, over the years the soil and water
fashioned in camouflage: they look like the practical shoe they collected the water had nowhere to drain away. There is no way of
proved to be. The only nod to the military were the round laces, know how deep they are so it can be scary crossing the marshy
fitted to allow “rapid on and off functionality” required by “exacting mass of vegetation. If concern of sliding into a mire is scary, what is
military specifications”. However, for those who want the exacting heart stopping is stepping onto some “quaking bog”. That is where a
functionality of a road runner they kindly provide a pair of oval
laces with the new shoes. Intriguingly UK Gear suggest that,
rather like a car tyre, a running shoes performance can be
Cold Mountain - Henry Harington puts the PT-03
adversely effected by outside temperature, and this shoe
uniquely has optimum cushioning and stability specified at the
WINTER running shoe through its paces on Dartmoor
temperature range -20 to +10 (-4 to +50 ), making them ideal
for a typical British winter! crust has formed which floats on the bog. Falling through the crust
Given these shoes are to be worn by the bravest and toughest of a quaking bog would be a bit like falling through ice – you wouldn’t
people on the planet I thought I ought to do a test to match the be sure you could surface to find the hole through which you had
rigour to which they would subject them. fallen. The only comfort crossing the bogs and the quaking bogs in
I ran hard and long. I run on Dartmoor, which, is a testing particular is when you see pony poo. Ponies roam Dartmoor and if a
environment for any footwear, particularly in January, but instead of pony can cross a bog, the bog can support your weight.
“pussyfooting about” I pretended I was being driven by a manic The PT-03 is waterproof - on this run no water seemed to enter
sergeant major with the Brian Blessed’s megaphone voice that the fabric of the shoe. Running PT-03’s in snow, their natural habitat,
would be uttered forth from beneath a mega-handlebar moustache – I can imagine a pair of gaiters would be of great benefit. The outside
someone with a similar slave driving attitude (but not the looks) to of the shoes would keep dry but the snow going over the top would
the editor of Footwear Today. be well – yuk!
There may have been a lack of snow but Dartmoor is always One of the worst aspects of trail running is the cold, clammy, wet
excitingly unpredictable. When it actually snows it is claimed the feet that comes from the dousing in mud, bogs and streams. But, by
women of Widecombe-in-the-Moor are plucking geese, and when it the time I reached home after my run my feet were bone dry and, I
snows harder it is said they are plucking faster. No plucking the day I think because of the padding and construction of the shoes, warm.
went for a run. When I started out it was freezing cold and misty. I Not having had the PT-03 for very long I cannot vouch for its
had to climb a steep wooded hill to get onto the high moor. The PT-03 longevity but given the construction and feel and the fact that it was
is a road and trail running shoe, rather than an off road or fell shoe. built for soldiers, I would reckon that it is a shoe that would last a
Above the wood is a rutted track through the forest. It is puddled normal runner longer than the average shoe.
and muddy and crossed by several streams. As I Details: The PT-03 WINTER running shoe has a trade price of
came out of the forest onto the open £47.70, RRP £100
34
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FOOTWEAR TODAY
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MARCH 2010 www.footweartoday.co.uk
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