A bit of history to begin with. I've tried Hokas before and I have had issues with the the narrowness of the forefoot with my apparently quite monstrously wide feet. I have a pair of of the Hoka Clifton's that I love nearly everything about, except for the amount of room in the forefoot. So I did a bit of research ahead of time and was pleased to discover the Challengers have a bit more forefoot room and wouldn't cause the same sort of issues I had with previous shoes.
Ethical
I had to speak with someone from Hoka One One to get an answer to whether their shoes are vegan or not. It isn't listed on their site and there isn't anything definitive on the web already. However I'm happy to report that the answer to the question of whether Hoka shoes are vegan is...
"The answer is yes. No animal products into the shoe." - Hoka Product Development
So that's a big tick in the ethical column for Hoka One One.
Fit and Feel
So my number one concern was about the width of the toe box and I'm happy to report they are indeed wider than the Cliftons. They still aren't extra roomy by any means, but there was enough space and I didn't experience any toe squishage in my running.
It should be no surprise to many who have tried Hokas, but this really is really an amazingly comfortable shoe. It is very light for such a well cushioned shoe (283g for UK men's size 9.5) and felt quite nimble as I was running along some fairly uneven surfaces. They really shone when I went over rocks and other sharp and hard surfaces as the extra cushion protected my feet from the terrain. Of course you aren't going to get a lot of ground feel with this sort of shoe, but this is an asset on many surfaces and is certainly appreciated on the longer runs.
The upper offers a good amount of protection and didn't make my feet especially hot. I did manage to tear the fabric on the top front on some brambles, but that isn't too much of a surprise if you know how overgrown the North Downs Way tends to be.
There hasn't been a lot of wet weather to try these shoes out on, so I can't say how they will perform in slippery and muddy conditions. I did manage to get out in them after a decent shower and deliberately stomped through a number of deeper puddles to see how well they drained. I was pleasantly surprised to find the squelchy feel gone within a few minutes and very little water was retained in the shoe even after repeatedly dunking them on each of my laps of the park.
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| After about 100 miles. Small tear on front fabric the left shoe from brambles. |
The only damage is the tear in the upper from brambles, the rest of the shoe is showing very little wear. The rubberised tread is fully intact and there is only a small amount of wear on the exposed EVA material. With only 100 miles on the shoe I wouldn't expect too much wear and tear in any case. Given their current state, I can see getting 4-500 miles out of each pair, which is pretty good value.
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| Not much wear yet on mixed, but very hard terrain. |
Many of the earlier Hoka's looked very... distinctive. Looking more remedial than sporty, they have been an example of many runner's preference for function over form. However I think this shoe is a bit different and the Challenger is actually a pretty trendy looking shoe. Julie, my resident fashion advisor, has even agreed to be seen with me when wearing them, which is a clear sign that the folks at Hoka are on the right track here.
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| Ready to race! |
I put these shoes through a fairly challenging set of conditions with road, rocks, grass and trails and I can safely say I'll be using these shoes again. It doesn't even have to be the really long stuff either, as I've enjoyed using them for shorter local jaunts around the park as well for the ultra distance runs. The combination of shock absorption, compact fit and moderate traction make these ideal for most mixed trail conditions.
Overall I really enjoyed using the Challenger ATR and look forward to taking them out on my next trail run.
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