BEST FOR COMFORT.
The best women’s trail running shoes for off-road adventures
Nike Streakfly 2: Lighter, faster, better...
Tested by Alice Barraclough and Jenny Bozon
Whether you’re just making your foray into off-road running, or you’re counting down the days until your next multi-day event, finding the right women’s trail running shoes can make a huge difference to your ability to tackle more uneven terrains – not to mention your enjoyment of the whole run.
Trail and ultra-running have seen a boom in popularity over the past couple of years, with more and more female athletes leading the charge. From Elsey Davis to Camille Herron, these women are proof that no terrain or distance is off limits — and it helps when your hard-working soles are kitted out in the best gear possible.
What are the best trail running shoes for women in 2023?
Our team of editors have been taking to the forests, mountains and coastlines of the UK (and beyond) in a number of trail shoes, to bring you our selection of the ones that will have your back, mile after mile. We take into consideration factors including comfort, fit, feel and performance.
BEST FOR MUDDY TRAILS.
Road shoes vs trail shoes
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below road shoes in that they’re designed to protect your feet from things like rocks, stones and other debris. For this reason, they usually have stiff uppers and more durable outsoles with alternating lugs, to help you grip on different surfaces.
The more unstable the surface you’re running on, the more stability you’ll need from your shoes. Trail shoes tend to have stiffer and firmer midsoles than road running shoes, to support your feet on technical terrains. In contrast, your feet need less cushioning on trails than they do on hard roads, which is why you’ll find road running shoes generally feel more cushioned to provide that extra shock absorption and bounce.
How to choose a pair of women’s trail running shoes
Just like road shoes, there are a number of trail running shoes on the market, geared towards different terrains and distances. Here are a few things to consider when shopping.
Terrain: First, consider the types of terrains you’ll be running on – this will determine how much grip you need from your shoes. If you’ll be heading from your front door to the trails, or mainly running on more tightly packed gravel, then you won’t need something quite so technical and aggressive. Muddy, slippery and more uneven terrains will demand deeper lugs and more advanced outsoles to ensure you don’t trip or slip.
Traction: Once you’ve decided what sorts of terrains you want your shoes to handle, you can look at the specific features of each shoe. Traction refers to a shoe’s ability to grip a variety of surfaces, and is determined by the size of lugs, the spacing of the lugs, and the density of the rubber used.
Slightly taller, more widely spaced lugs (5-6mm) can be great for wet, snowy or muddy conditions, but shorter (3-4mm) lugs will be more than sufficient for most other surfaces. Stickier, softer rubber also does a better job of gripping wet and dry surfaces. However, it tends to wear out more quickly than harder outsoles, so the lifespan of your trail shoes will reduce.
Upper: A durable upper protects the top and sides of your feet from debris, so trail shoes are often heavier than road shoes. Rigid toe bumpers are a great feature to look out for too.
Stack height: This represents the thickness of the midsole at both the toe and the heel. Nowadays, more and more brands are leaning towards highly cushioned, highly stacked shoes. But keep in mind that while this may boost comfort, it will make the shoe less responsive due to little underfoot feel. In a trail shoe, you want greater stability and an underfoot feel to keep you upright, so it’s worth keeping in mind stack height when you’re shopping around.
The best women's trail running shoes
Whether you’re looking for a daily workhorse, a speedy racer or something that can handle the muddiest terrains, here are our favourite trail running shoes for women.
Like a decent wad of cushioning in your trail shoes – and plenty of bounce? This Saucony Xodus Ultra 2 should be on your wish-list. Featuring a decent stack of Pwrrun PB midsole foam – the same lightweight foam as is used in Saucony’s perennially popular Endorphin Speeds – this distance trail shoe offers a soft but energetic ride, while still allowing adequate ground feel underfoot for technical trails.
While a neutral shoe, they deliver a very stable ride, thanks to sidewalls positioned on both sides in the rearfoot and midfoot, as well as a stiff heelcounter with a well-cushioned interior, which helps to lock the foot in place. There’s also an internal midfoot brace which tightly wraps around the midfoot providing a really secure hold.
Beneath the shoe there’s versatile 4.5mm multi-directional lugs, which we found dug into soft ground boggy ground with ease but also held firm on hard terrain. There’s a reinforced toecap providing protection for the toes when negotiating rocky and rooted paths, while the breathable mesh upper provides excellent durability and repels trail girt and grime. At 241g, they feel lightweight, too – delivering an agile and comfy ride, which is perfect for long days out.
Key specs
| Weight | 241g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 6mm |
The Speedgoats have garnered something of a cult following over the years, loved for how dependable, robust and comfortable they are over long distances on the trails. They wrap tightly around your feet via the fabric that hugs the foot to keep it stable and in place. The tongue is gusseted and increases the sock-like fit, and the extended heel tab makes it easier to slide your foot in and out of the shoe.
Along hard-packed trail surfaces, the ride is pillowy soft, with enough bounce to keep your legs feeling fresh and full of life. Take them on to more demanding terrain, though, and they come alive on your feet. The lightweight foam midsole combined with the grippy outsole provides a mystical combination that you can trust to carry you over any type of surface with speed.
These will ably see you through any distance trail run, from shorter 10K or half marathons, but they truly step up performance marathon distance or above.
Key specs
| Weight | 234g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 4mm |
When a shoe looks as natty as the Hierro v7, there’s a suspicion that more attention has been paid to its appearance than it has to its performance. But after running in it, such fears are allayed.
The Hierro v7 is best thought of as a multi-terrain shoe. Its Vibram outsole feels at home on the pavement, hard trails and even the sand. The only surface on which it is not so good is thick mud. If you’re looking for a shoe for cross-country, obstacle races or technical mountain yomps, this is not it. For everything else, it’ll work a treat.
This is a comfortable yet responsive, multi-tasking, multi-terrain marvel. If you have the confidence to pull it off, the Hierro v7 will not disappoint.
Key specs
| Weight | 235g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 8mm |
After making its foray into footwear in 2022, Lululemon released its first woman-specific road-to-trail shoe in May 2023 – and it surprised our e-commerce ed. It’s built on the same midsole construction as the brand’s road running shoe, the Blissfeel 2, but while we found this too firm of a ride for the road, it actually lends itself well to off-road terrains.
There’s also a protective film on the upper for added durability, with a PPU covering around the toe that provides a layer of stability and protection. On the outsole, 4mm lugs, orientated between the heel and forefoot, support traction.
However, it’s worth noting that this is definitely a shoe designed to take you from your front door to the trails – it’s not one for muddier, technical terrains, or anything over 15k. That being said, for newbie trail runners who don’t necessarily want something chunky and hardcore, it’s a decent option.
Key specs
| Weight | 282g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 9.5mm |
The Speedcross is what many people think of as a ‘classic’ trail running shoe, and its dedicated following is a testament to that. When it comes to tackling challenging terrain, the Speedcross is more than up to the task.
The latest version offers up the tried and tested grip made famous by previous models, feeling reassuring in mud and giving a very clear sense of ground feel and control, especially through the forefoot and toes. This is partly due to the fact that the stack height under the forefoot is only 22mm, which places the foot as close to the ground as possible without entering into the realms of minimalist shoes.
However, all the reasons why some people love the Speedcross are the ones that mean others won’t. In a time when stack heights are increasing, lugs are getting smaller and foam is more compressive and responsive, the Speedcross can seem antiquated with its firm-feeling midsole and low stack heights. That being said, if you’re after a trail shoe that offers up a real sense of confidence wherever you run, then maybe this ‘classic’ trail shoe could be for you.
Key specs
| Weight | 279g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 10mm |
Nike Pegasus Trail 4
The Pegasus is the clear winner when it comes to door-to-trail runs. Responsive and smooth, the cushioning is reminiscent of the Pegasus 40 road model, with a React foam midsole that feels great on the pavement.
The gaiter collar is a stretchy fabric, preferable for shielding against trail debris and light drizzle. The Pegasus is at its best on harder packed less technical trails, grass and dirt paths, providing a lively, responsive but smooth and nicely cushioned ride. Our e-commerce ed wore these for a recent marathon on a safari range in Kenya and found they coped excellently on the loose dirt paths. However, the traction isn’t quite aggressive enough when things get really steep or slippy.
Protective elements are also dialled down compared to the most extreme trail models, with no underfoot rock plate and limited added coverage at the toe, but unless you’re tackling something really extreme there’s enough to keep you safe and comfortable.
Key specs
| Weight | 290g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 9mm |
Inov-8's Trailfly Ultra G 280 is geared towards ultramarathoners, with a relatively high stack of midsole cushioning that’s soft, but surprisingly bouncy and lively, too. Despite the wad of cushioning, you still get a nice connection with the ground. Our tester found this allowed them to better identify, and negotiate, changes in terrain (e.g. tree roots and rocks).
The shoe also feels quite light and nimble. You’ve got an 8mm deep groove in the midsole, which allows the forefoot and heel to move independently of one another. On top, there’s a flexible knitted upper and extra reinforcement around the toes, plus a toe bumper to protect the foot from roots and rocks. However, our tester did note that she would have appreciated some added reinforcement around the heel, as her niggly Achilles felt quite tender after testing the shoes on a couple of occasions. The interior of the heel counter also lacks padding.
Overall, the Ultra G 280 offers a plush, light and grippy ride. They’re a touch on the roomy side, so might not be snug enough for some. But wider-footed runners are likely to find little to complain about.
Key specs
| Weight | 280g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 8mm |
The Glide Max is one of Salomon’s most cushioned shoes and the trail version of the Aero Glide for road. It sits on a high wedge of energy foam (27mm in the forefoot, 33m in the heel) to provide more cushioned landings for those longer trail runs.
But don’t let that fool you – there’s still a good amount of ground feel to help you tackle moderately technical terrain. We wore these for a recent trail running festival in the Gower Peninsula in Wales and felt stable running along the coastal paths.
Despite being touted as a standard-width shoe, we found there was ample room in the toe box. Not only is this ideal on longer runs when your feet start to swell, but it also makes the Glide Max a good choice for wider-footed runners.
The upper feels durable and supportive, with a cushioned heel counter helping to create that ‘locked in’ feeling. But it’s not the most ventilated shoe overall and while the toe bumper is decent enough, you wouldn’t want to be tackling anything too extreme in these.
Key specs
| Weight | 251g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 6mm |
| Lugs | 3.5mm |
If you’re looking for a shoe that can answer pretty much all of your trail needs, look no further than the Peregrine. It’s light without being minimalist, comfortable without being unresponsive, and it’s capable of performing well over a wide variety of distances and terrains.
In the latest iteration, there’s been a slight increase in stack height, which makes it feel a lot more cushioned compared with the Peregrine 12. At the same time, Saucony has managed to shave weight off, which means the overall feel and ride is one that feels as nimble as ever.
Saucony’s Powertrack outsole impressed our testers across ascents and descents and on a wide variety of trail terrain. But this is definitely not an ‘out the door and to the park’ shoe; the 5mm lugs are far too aggressive for lengthy periods on the road (or indeed, packed trails), so we’d recommend sticking to more technical terrains.
Key specs
| Weight | 230g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 4mm |
Technical, lightweight and durable, if you’ve entered an ultra-marathon in the mountains, then these are the shoes you need on your feet.
As part of The North Face’s Vectiv range – trail shoes that include a carbon plate – the Sky shoe is one of the brand’s high-performance trail racers, designed specifically with the mountain (and speed) in mind.
Our testers really put these shoes through their paces running along a technical cliff forest path, and found these shoes offered plenty of support going both up and down the mountain. They’re a lot firmer and feel closer to the ground than the plush Vectiv Pro – which is roomier and designed as more of a cushioned race-day shoe. The Sky shoes, however, offer a lower-stack alternative – so they’re great on rockier paths. And, thanks to the rocker technology offer a propulsive toe-off.
| Weight | 227g |
|---|---|
| Drop | 4mm |
Saucony Tempus 2: Stability meets speed Runner’s World, overseeing RW’s new membership programme, set to launch later this year. She has been with the brand for close to three years now – previously working as deputy digital editor, where she covered all manner of running topics, spanning training, health, injury, nutrition and gear. Over the years, she’s interviewed an abundance of awe-inspiring athletes, from top-tier ultrarunners and Olympic champions to everyday runners who have accomplished extraordinary things. Jen has been a sports journalist for 10 years; she is the former editor of Women’s Running magazine and has also worked as Sports Editor at Red Bull. She started running a decade ago and likes to dabble in triathlon a little, too. You’ll find she’s happiest plodding down the Thames path or chowing down on a post-run pastry.
BEST FOR THE MOUNTAINS
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Published: 13 July 2023
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