Review; Go Lite Versa Force

Remember these, I posted about these shoes back in January, they were the bargain of the year…to date, well the truth is yes they were a bargain but that only counts if you keep and wear them and the fact of the matter is they do not fit. Unfortunately this was not to be found out until 10 miles into a 15 mile run, while they felt fine while running on the flat and uphill, it was the downhills were things came unraveled and my poor little piggies were being pummeled to death!

Now the fact of the matter is the sizing is a bit funky; they spread sizes - these are 11-11.5, I usually size up half a size to an 11 so I thought these would be fine, I think I needed the 11.5-12s if they do them, so that’s the first thing I have to say, they run a bit small.

The lacing creates a really snug fit and the cosset your foot very nicely, they breath well enough despite quite a lot of molded plastic and my feet were not warm in any way. The toe cover is protective enough all round they seem hard wearing.

And so onto the soles, as you can see the soles really are quite unique, they are very aggressive with the shark teeth like lugs and these are really effective at grabbing the trail and pulling you up, on the downhills they work equally well; although I wasn’t really letting fly in an attempt to not squash my toes too much. Surprisingly the soles are not as cushioned as you would think and the ride is quite harsh, from speaking to the salesman in the store, these shoes are specifically designed for muddy trails, something we don’t see too much off round here and the tread is designed to throw off the mud as you run, which from my limited experience on muddy trails would be a boon. I was running on quite a sandy/rocky trail and experienced no real problems.

Inside they come with a customizable footbed which is designed to allow you to maximize the fit, personally I just pulled all of that out and stuffed in my custom orthotics; no problem!

So in conclusion, a good shoe, designed for a specific surface, if you're ok with a hardish ride but like lots of grip they are the shoe for you, maybe if you're a lighter runner (I weigh in around 170lbs these days) they would be less harsh. Go up a whole size rather than the half and you’ll be fine…as for my pair, well they are looking for a good home; one careful owner and low mileage! They can be yours for what I paid for them ($30) plus postage, if you would like them email me at quadrathon at gmail dot com and you could have them by the weekend!