During the recent UTMB week in Chamonix, Swedish brand Craft Sportswear invited me to join a social trail run to test their latest trailrunning silhouette – the Pure Trail. Obviously I wanted to take every chance to run around Chamonix so I joined the whole crew early in the Craft pub (pretty cool to just rent a bar/pub for a week, providing all the drinks and snacks and a chill space for whenever needed) next to my hotel, had a walk to Aigulle du Midi and took the cable car up the middle station at around 2200m. It was up to the runners to do the easy 6k route with 200m of altitude and go back down by train or do another 6k downhill. 6k in with a beautiful (single) trail from the station to Mer de Glace – I knew the route from 2022 when I did it with Nis the other way round to arrive at the middle station.
The Pure Trail is a pretty fast & reactive trail running shoe, no big foam sole but still comfortably cushioned and with a reduced weight. The sole features a rock plate what was especially nice during the long and rocky downhill section. Stabilizing and stiff! I had to get used to the very reduced uppes (made of TPU mesh) as I usually prefer more material around the upper. But once realized it’s a very durable material you‘ll start enjoying the light weight and flexibility. This one’s made for the long run and races! Beside the "og" orange colorway, two more variants are available via Craft's shop - find 'em here!
The 6k down were “runnable”, that’s what the guides said and in general, they were right. But being used mainly forest ways, it was already pretty technical for the city boy I am. Still, 12k around Chamonix in the books and a pretty good training for the quads.
Thx for having me Craft, pretty sure I’ll enjoy the Pure Trail in the future. Check out my day with Salomon Ultra & Francois D'Haene as well!
