Salomon S-Lab Sense 5 Ultra SG review

“A proven, lightweight and low drop ultra-distance trail racer designed to perform in wet, soft ground conditions.”

Brand: Salomon
Product: S-Lab Sense 5 Ultra SG
Shoe type: Trail
Weight: 260gms
Drop: 4mm (21mm/17mm)
Immediate standouts: Lightweight with an aggressive lug design

Why Salomon and why now?

The S-Lab Sense 5 are the first pair of Salomon shoes I have owned and I have now been running the trail circuit for almost 3 years. The first time I tried on a pair I was concerned they felt like a ‘true shoe’ as I had been use to running in Vivo BareFoot and New Balance Minimus shoes so opted to run in the Inov8 Trailroc 245 which I still run into today and love. I have owned over 5 pairs of the trailroc’s and they have seen me successfully complete 3 x 100km ultra marathons with not one blister or foot issue – I owe a lot of these shoes.  So why the change now? Grip.

During the winter months trails become muddy and very slippery and I just felt I needed a little bit more of an aggressive grip to ensure I had the confidence to throw myself down the descents without losing my footing. Not that the trail roc’s have ever caused me that kind of issue but within myself I just needed more.

Majority of my endurance idols wear Salomon Lucy Bartholomew, Ryan Sandes, Majell Backhausen and Matty Abel so after reading many posts and reviews you could say, their influence finally paid off.

Since purchasing these shoes over a week ago I have already run over 130kms with the first run being 6km followed by a 17km race the next day (one of the golden rules of running is, never race in a pair of new shoes!) Having launched feet first into these shoes I must say I am very, very impressed. Not one blister and for being such a light weight shoe they are super comfortable. OK so they are a little harder on the foot compared to the Trailroc but my feet will get use to that in no time.

With technologies such as a lace pocket, quicklace and anti-debris mesh these are all the qualities that make a Salomon shoe so unique.

I look forward to training and racing further with these shoes and exploring the other shoes in the range. Because as we all know, as a runner you can never have too many shoes.

To learn more about the Salomon range visit www.salomon.com/au/