After using Saucony all my life, I became increasingly annoyed about how little the shoes lasted on the trails. As a result, I explored six different shoes from five different brands this year. Here is my ranking of all the shoes I’ve tried in 2025, from bottom to top!

6. Salomon Aero Glide 3

First I want to say that Salomon were extremely kind to gift these shoes to me following an event I did with them and XACT in April.

Secondly, despite ranking these shoes at the bottom, I actually love them. They are easily the comfiest shoes I own.

I just love them for walking and lounging around more than for running. I’m sure they would make for a great running shoe for someone who vibes really well with Salomon.

For running, they wouldn’t be my first choice. But the kids I work with called them “dad shoes”, and I think that’s how you know you have a good, comfortable shoe on your feet.

5. Altra Lone Peak 9

I really liked this shoe the first few times I tried them. But as I utilized them on a variety of terrain, they just started to feel clunky and heavy, especially on runnable trail or road.

With the zero drop, I don’t love how it feels to step on a stone right in the middle of your foot – a sensation I haven’t experienced with any other shoe.

Frustrated with the time available to train in another pair of shoes, I leaned into these for QMT. They performed really well in Mestachibo and hiking Mont Saint Anne on race day. But the heaviness didn’t feel great throughout the race.

Nowadays I use them for hiking, and never have any problems other than that zero drop harsh step sensation.

4. Hoka Speedgoat 6

My preferred hiking shoe these days, I’m a big fan of the style and colour of the Speedgoat 6.

My feet took some time adjusting to the height of the shoe around the ankles, and often left me with bad blisters. Since switching them to a hiking shoe I’ve enjoyed them more and more, and do think they’d be a useful shoe on technical runs.

3. Saucony Endorphin Edge

This is my favourite carbon-plated trail shoe for handling a variety of terrain. I feel much sturdier in this trail shoe than other carbon-plated trail shoes, and Saucony have often vibed well with my feet.

Not only are they a fast racing shoe, but they’re a comfortable training shoe that I feel confident utilizing on more technical trail runs.

After being unhappy with my shoe decisions for my first three races of 2025, I didn’t have a single worry wearing these for Harricana, which has a good mix of technical and runnable trail. I have it on good authority that it also has the Robyn Mildren stamp of approval, as she used them for the 42K at UTHC this year too.

2. Adidas Agravic Speed

This is my favourite trail shoe for fast, runnable trail. It’s so light and speedy, while still giving pop on the uphills, and surviving mildly technical stuff well.

These feel so great on the road that I never have any worries about wearing them on days where I’m doing more of a 50/50 split. They are a little narrow for someone with wide feet like myself, but that doesn’t cause too many issues. Not like these two downsides, at least…

Two downsides:

• The ankle support is wildly bad. The first time I rolled my ankle in them it took me out for the remainder of the run. Other ankle rolls since have always felt more painful than in other shoes with greater support.
• The scope of trail races they’d do well in seems small. Something like Gorge was too technical for them, and the mud of Duchesnay was a nightmare. I’ll likely wear them at Javelina, and we’ll see how they do in the desert!

Despite those downsides, it’s an insanely light and fast shoe, and clearly a trend setter for other carbon-plated shoes. And one of my biggest upsides: This shoe has lasted all year, and is still going pretty strongly after over 1,200 kilometres – with zero rips or tears. Somehow, they made a light, fast shoe, that has actually lasted more than a training block. And while a shoe doesn’t need to last that long, it’s super impressive to see it withstand the test of time.

1. Saucony Endorphin Speed

I wore the racing version of this shoe for the first half of the year, and always felt so fast. But they only lasted 600K, which was really disappointing.

Since then, I’ve tried the “high mileage” version of the shoe, and I love how it feels. I actually like that it feels a bit heavier than the racing shoe, as it offers more support. Speed workouts still feel really speedy in them, and again, Saucony vibes really well with my feet.

This is my favourite shoe of the year, and easily the most stylish too. I just hope they last longer this time!

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So there it is! My shoe ranking for 2025! What are your favourite shoes from the year? Let me know below or send me a message on socials! Thanks for reading and see you soon.