inov-8 Men's Mudclaw 300 Trail Running Shoe

Product Information

During the Sedburgh race I passed a couple of people who mentioned that they were really feeling the shoe under the ankle bones as they traversed around the hill. As with climbing shoes, the grippy rubber is always the bit you want, and the bit you pay for, but the problem is the grippier rubber always wears out the fastest.

This shoe is a lighter mere 300g compared to previous verisons and yet is built from some of the most durable materials in the market. Breaking them out at Christmas, they tore up my local trails before I took them back to the very field I first wore them. When I got home I looked at the shoe, re-laced it and then the following day went out and ran the same 8-mile loop. Nothing grips better than the Mudclaw 300 by Inov-8 in mud, whether it be tracks, trails, hills or an obstacle race.

I never put on the crampons and was hammering down on the Grande Motte Glacier (3600m altitude) all out with not one slip. My test run includes 1-mile of road before and after the trails and I have to say, this shoe feels wonderfully comfortable on the hard stuff despite its ‘off-road’ pedigree.

Given the terrain the Mudclaw eats with ease, you receive a level of cushion from the ground beneath your feet.A Dual-C combination of medium sticky and hard sticky rubbers ensure the studs stay strong over time and continue to deliver.

After running around Bleaklow one winter in Roclites, I went over to the Mudclaws simply for the grip in such muddy and slippy conditions. I recently ran an uphill and downhill trail in Ireland that was on the Mourne Skyline MTR race route and the trail incorporates many elements – forest path, tree routes, gravel, stone steps, mud, road and it had rained heavily before the run and drizzled whilst running. The stud placement is well thought out, through years of off-road experience, meaning mud should clear quickly and not stick in large quantities. If you have the previous version of the ‘300’ in yellow and black, don’t be fooled into thinking this is the same shoe. For a sturdy shoe with a complete outsole and injected midsole, the Meta-Flex band ensures there is still a level of flexibility thats required for steep ascents and descents.

If you put mudclaw 300 on a scale and compare it with mudclaw 265 you will notice no difference in weith. A Dual-C combination of medium sticky and hard sticky rubber ensures the studs stay strong over time and continue to deliver. For a quick thrash around local trails, I’d be looking for something lighter, but for a big day out they are fine. For years, inov-8 has provided the ‘go-to’ shoes for running when the ground gets wet, slippery, muddy, gnarly and so on!

It’s lightweight, nimble and incredibly grippy, they are right at home in the boggest of British fells.

Yes micro spike/mini crampons would have made the icy sections easy, but outside of using something like a ArcticTalon with Tungsten Carbide tips, you’d be hard pushed to run up there without slipping and sliding. An aggressively studded sole guarantees grip when ascending, descending or contouring in the steepest and wettest of conditions. but if laced correctly (try this), pulled tight and double knotted your foot should feel super secure; my feet were! I found that the 12 (my normal size) were cripplingly small, my toes horribly crunched up in front, as well as the midfoot a little pinched. Thanks to its new flatter heel, it can cope with hard-packed and road sections more comfortably and with greater stability than ever before.