Simon Crowther gives his verdict on our Adventure Sport shoes

A chance meeting on a flight back from Sweden, seated next to Hi-Tec CEO Martin Binnedijk resulted in an unsolicited question 'Do you run?'.....

Well it had just so happened that I'd started my first Off Road adventure series called Trail X in the middle distance category and was having problems with footwear; Martin prompted me to try the latest Hi-Tec Adventure Race shoe series with its latest Hpi technology. Somewhat doubtful over my present arsenal of footwear from Salomon and Inov 8 which were meant to be the best according to the 'experts' I was keen to see how they performed.

It's at this point I should point out I'm a 39 y/o 6'2" guy that weighs 90kg and that had taken up running late in life, with bad knees, back and some very weak ankles.

I WAS IMPRESSED! My present shoes transmitted every shock back to these joints, resulting in blisters, back ache and easy rolling of my dodgy ankle, plus the dreaded morning knee click... Training progressed through the season to about 100k a week plus biking and gym sessions and I was very impressed to actually win the middle distance series (12k Run 20K MTB 3k Kayak)!

The difference Hi-Tec has made to my running has meant that I can now run half marathon distances without extreme problems so I decided to enter some of the Coastal Trail Series II marathon events organised by Endurance Life.

These are more like Fell Running through some of the most beautiful terrain the South coast has to offer over steep trails, tracks, grass, beach, down, gorse, shingle, wet steep clay and beach, the times are nothing like track or road times due to the steep terrain as often a road runner has found - What's up there!?

The especially developed Hi-Tec Vibram sole on the was amazing! Surefooted on fast descents, grippy on wet slippery clay and with the Hpi Ion technology would wash out as clean as new, with a lot less smell.... talking of which I must give mine a wash! See Attached.

Simon wears the V-Lite Eruption and V-Lite Hornet Adventure shoes.

Simon is continuing his Adventure Race Escapades in 2010 with the IROC Series, CTS and Coast to Coast challenges. We hope to bring some more updates from him in the near future.