Review: La Sportiva Akasha Trail Running Shoe

By Mont Sponsored Trail Runner and Australian Mountain Running Team member Etienne Blumstein-Jones

First Impressions:
They looked really good. They were comfortable straight out of the box and were light.

After first use:
I used them on a 30km mountainous run straight out of the box and they felt comfortable (I didn’t have any issues with hot spots on my feet the whole run). They worked perfectly even while running in snow. They were responsive and felt light while running which are two things I really look for. They drained well; drying quite quickly when swapping from the snow to rock. They had great grip (which is something that I have come to expect from La Sportiva shoes) when running on rocks and even when swapping from snow to rock.

After further runs:
They are still just as comfortable. I have only done long runs in the Akashas and a total of 73.5 kms but there is no wear on the tread at all. They also have the right level of cushioning which is great for when the fatigue really kicks in. I tried them on parts of the Hounslow Ultra course (Skyrunning race in Blackheath) and I am now certain they will be my shoes of choice for this race.

These shoes are made for ultras, though they are great for any distance where you want that extra bit of cushioning. Technical terrain is especially where they come alive and I would use these for any distance over 20 kms.

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