Hoka - Challenger 7

I’ve run my last two pairs of Challengers into the ground. Probably a bit too much with my last pair at almost 1,400k! I have had bad “luck” with my previous Speedgoats where the inside of the back of one felt really odd and rubbed against my Achilles loads. No issues with a newer pair. My latest Challengers feel a bit less tight on my feet but maybe I need to change my lacing.  That happening twice to you doesn’t just feel like bad luck though. 

Hoka Challengers are my go to shoe for mixed terrain with light trails. They feel like slippers when they’re on and I’ll choose them over my Speedgoats whenever I can. 

Hoka Challengers are my go-to for most runs. Must be 1,000km into this pair at least.  And Speedgoat 6s for the heavier stuff. Went into the shop to go for something else after a bad experience with the 5s but they were still the best fit of everything I tried. 

Love my Challengers. I use them for over 80% of my runs and the tread doesn’t wear too quickly on the tarmac; I’m about 1200k into this pair and probably looking to replace them soon.  They’re like wearing slippers compared to my Speedgoats. 

I’m on my third pair of Hoka Challengers as they’re great for the majority of what I do, with a pair of Speedgoats for harder terrain. They last pretty well too with my most recent ones going for 1,200k before I retired them and I still use them for walking.  (I’m not a Hoka fanboy but whenever I’ve been into a shop to try new shoes, I’ve still always preferred these ones). 

I had to return my ATR Challenger 7s the other day after 2 months (250ish km) because the glue holding the grippy bits on was failing. I got another pair to see if I was just unlucky, but we’ll see… they’re so comfy but I’m not sold on the longevity/quality.

Wow. Surprised to hear that they made the SG6 feel even more "slippy" in the heel and tongue area. I have the 5's myself that I use for high technical trail runs and cross-country races. I feel like I could snap the laces clean off before i could get a good comfy fit for both my heel and top of the foot. I've relaced them twice and still can't seem to find a good solid fit. Ugh. I loved the idea of the Speedgoat series, but man, looking back, I should have asked my aunt for another pair of HOKA Challenger 7 ATR for last Christmas.

Have the Challenger 7 and love them. Fits like a glove once you give it a week to untighten and contour to your feet. I've had them for an XC season and a half, and they're only now starting to show signs of actual wear that isn't cosmetic. Definitely a hybrid shoe, though. It can hold its own on mid to high technical terrain, but it's more at home in gravel and hard-packed trails.

My old challenger 6 ATR lasted 600 miles! I miss them! I have a 7 now but haven’t used much. Hope they hold well 🤞

easily hoka challenger 7 ATR's. I jog on gravel trails and grass every once and a while, and go through patches of pavement, and theyre great.

Mine did the same thing after like 50 miles same for my road runners, I don't buy hoka anymore

Hoka Challenger 7. Matibay lugs nya sa road. At makapit din sa trail.

I went back to hoka, using the challenger 7 atm. To be honest all my issues went away when I really pulled the laces apart and wore them super loose 

I would recommend you to use the shoes you ran with it the most. You have a lot of mileage in the speedgoat? Use the speedgoat, even on road. If you really want a road shoe and you have a lot of mileage in speedgoat, go try some Hoka. But if it's a loop, don't forget to bring the speedgoat/favorite shoes. The speedgoat 6 have a 5mm drop, don't start to play with drop atm, use a 4 to 6mm drop if your body is used to that. The Hoka Challenger 7 is a road/trail shoes with a 5mm drop like the speedgoat.

Trail (and ultra)Running (which developed from the more traditional and original fell running) comes in a few different forms these days, mostly due to its exploding popularity. NB: contrary to popular thought, ultrarunning is more ‘doable’ than people think - it’s less intense than road marathons, less competitive between average runners (every course is different, the same course is different on different days / weather conditions). It tends to be more ‘self-competitive’ if you’re not an elite and the trail running community is generally very chill and inclusive. It’s also worth noting that the skills gap between men and women seems to dramatically shorten the further you run. Running on trails for fun, mental health, general fitness. Ultramarathons very much have a huge mental challenge to them. Trail half- and full marathons. Ultramarathons, anything longer than a marathon - 50k, 50 miles, 100k and 100 miles (and beyond!) being the ‘usual’ step up in distances. There are also ‘timed’ races (how far can you run a certain loop or round a 400m track in, say, 24 hours). Plus multi-day events. Even more recent are Back Yard Ultras - a loop of 4.167 miles, and you have to complete 1 loop every hour…until you can’t! Last person standing wins. You can fathom the logistics / challenges of this yourself! Eating, sleeping, toilet stops! 4.167 miles because 24 loops in 24 hours = 100 miles. Then there’s all sorts of wacky and mental variations on the above. Trail and ultrarunning also takes place over differing terrains. Some are flat, most are hilly to varying degrees, some mountainous, some in deserts - basically anywhere you can do an endurance race there is one! Often hill / mountain training - both up and down - is essential to training. Most non-elite ultrarunners will hike the hills and run down. Both need practice and differing fitness. I recently did 10YFan (10x up n down Pen y Fan in 24 hours), partly as training for other forthcoming events. It tested out my uphill hiking fitness and helped my downhill fitness and speed over ‘technical’ terrain. There’s a knack to chucking yourself downhill as fast and safely as possible and it takes practice. NB: I’m a bog standard ultra runner. Shoes very much depend on terrain. Some popular brands are (and I’m not extolling the virtues or otherwise of any): Hoka, Nike, Salomon, Saucony, Altra, Brooks, On, Inov8, New Balance. There’s loads. Have a look on SportsShoes.com and search trail shoes. There’s different models with different pros and cons for different terrain. I’ve got loads of different pairs / brands (it’s a sickness!) but FWIW I used a hybrid trail/road shoe for 10YFan - Hoka Challenger 7. Very spongy and soft, durable AF, with decent enough grip for that terrain. It’s very much personal preference though. As an aside, there’s TONNES of amazing ultrarunning films on YouTube. Hit me up if you want some recs. In short, there’s a lot of overlap on the Venn Diagram of hiking, trail running and fast packing. And some kit is interchangeable for reach. I can’t be arsed to spell check this, so if there’s any grammatical errors - SOZ!