Decathlon’s mid-range trail running shoe that’s ideal for everyday Sport Walking
Worn/tested by: Roger Burlinson
Duration: Three years / onto our second pair
Worn for: Shorter weekday training
Price: £49.99 (UK stores)
Review by Roger Burlinson
Introduction
I first bought the Kiprun TR2 Trail as a general purpose shoe several years ago. I wanted an all purpose shoe that would be suitable both for easy walks and for everyday wearing, like going to buy food or washing the van.
I’m now on my second pair, which I consider a good benchmark of success with a shoe. If it works for me, I’ll keep using it, if it doesn’t, it ends up in my allotment wardrobe!
What swung it for me with my original pair, which I have to say are still going strong (see above), was how light and comfortable they were. I also liked the pale green and grey colour palette, wanting as I did, something not too shouty.
This new styling is just as demure but with a brighter mid sole. The colour palette remains quite muted, with dark grey for the bulk of the upper, a pale grey midsole, an orange outsole and brown/orange laces. They’re not going to attract a lot of attention but that’s OK. After a couple of trips out on the trails they’ll be all brown anyway!
Structurally, I can’t detect any difference between these new shoes and the original TR2 I have and that’s nice because the first pair fitted me really well and were very comfortable and it’s nice to know Decathlon haven’t fixed it, because it wasn’t broken.
Me & Decathlon shoes
Now I’ve used some Decathlon walking shoes before with mixed results. A couple of pairs I was sent for testing were almost unwearable, whereas their replacement – the Newfeel Sportwalk Comfort shoe was superb and went on to be one of my ‘go to’ tarmac training shoes. I even made a highly complementary video about them because I felt that they were a big step forward for the brand.
But, in general, I’ve never looked to Decathlon brands for my main high performance or challenge shoes, I’ve always relied on La Sportiva for that, mainly because I have narrow feet and so do most Italians it seems!
So, my motivation in buying the TR2 was much more about getting a cheap pair of capable off road trainers that I could wear in all situations and not need to change if we decided on the spur of the moment to go walking on trails.
I had no expectation of them other than this. But, of course, it’s once you start using something that you naturally find what its true capabilities are and how you can exploit them and so it was with the TR2.
The more I wore them generally, as was the plan, the less and less I reached for other shoes for short distance Sport Walking and ended up just going out in the same shoes I already had on. The convenience of having one shoe that had broad capabilities, so you didn’t need to change them, was huge.
What you need from a performance shoe for Sport Walking is a great outsole, good cushioning (but not too much), a comfortable ankle cuff (padded, not sharp), good firm lacing and a nice close fit. This is exactly what I found in the TR2 and I’ve not had a single walk with them yet, where I’ve felt that there’s a major weakness in terms of that specific walk. OK, so I wouldn’t personally pick them for anything that’s going to be much over 10k or for terrain that’s really testing, like rocky mountain paths but that’s not really what they’re designed for. For shorter distances, as everyday training shoes, they’ve been superb.
So this is why I found myself increasingly reaching for the TR2 to go on short training walks – they just did the job, perhaps better than a shoe at this price point ought to do.
I would also pick them to wear when I’d go out filming (in my day job) and often end up walking for miles carrying a heavy backpack filled with cameras and a large tripod over my shoulder. Presented with this challenge, the TR2 didn’t flinch at all and just coped really well. Their light weight meant that I wasn’t adding to the load of my filming rig and the structural support of the shoe was pretty good in that situation.
OK, so that’s not your usual Sport Walking scenario but I think a good test of a shoe overall is how well it copes with more extreme requirements and lugging heavy camera kit over hills is not what they were designed for and yet, they coped!
Design & features
There’s not a huge amount to say about the design of these shoes, in fact, they’re what you might describe as quite a traditional shoe but they do have some strong points.
Firstly, the outsole has 4mm lugs and gives pretty good grip in most situations. OK, in thick mud they struggle but then so do some of my high end shoes. No, overall, I think for the kind of walks you’ll use these for, the sole and grip is perfectly adequate. I’d even go so far as to say it was very good.
The drop of the shoes – the amount the sole slopes from the heel to the forefoot – is 8mm, so that places it in the ‘high drop’ range, which is the more common range for most people and good for ‘heel striking’, which is an integral part of walking. Lower drop shoes take you gradually down towards the barefoot configuration or zero drop, so this 8mm drop is what you might think of as ‘normal’ for a general purpose trail shoe.
The midsole is an EVA foam pad, branded as ‘Kalensole’. In my experience, the cushioning from the midsole is just about right for walking and avoids slipping into the ‘too springy’ category. Of course, a shoe in this price range has quite a fine tightrope to walk between price and function, so there’s always compromise but I have never felt that the midsole was compromising my walking form at all, so they seem to have achieved a perfect blend with this shoe.
The only thing I have felt as the shoe aged, was that the forefoot of the midsole became more compressed and less supportive, giving more flex, which reduced the distance capability down to around 5k for my beaten up old shoes. The fact that they’re still wearable at all though, is a testament to their quality at this price point and, so, I think you have to cut them some slack. For new shoes and through most of their ‘design life’ (the length of time you should expect them to last for), I found the midsole performed really pretty well, although they did flex slightly more than my La Sportivas, hence the limitation on their distance suitability in my view.
One of the design features I really liked in my original TR2s and which I’m pleased to see they’ve retained in the latest iteration, is the lace garage. The what, you cry? The lace garage – the small pouch at the top of the tongue to tuck your tied laces into so they don’t snag on tree roots or low branches, tripping you up.
Now I’ve caught a trainer shoe lace on a stick that turned out to be planted in the ground, while walking along a fairly busy road and I can tell you, I hit the ground quicker than you can say WTF! When you’re moving at speed, you really have no scope to save yourself if you trip and so this lace garage is a really welcome feature.
In fact, it surprises me that more shoe brands don’t build them in as standard to their shoes because they work just as well with normal laces as they do with the ‘draw cord’ type, for which they were originally added – to tuck the clasp and excess cord out of the way.
Ideally suited to….?
For Sport Walking, the TR2 Trail is ideally suited to everyday training on both trail and tarmac for anything up to about 15km or 9 miles, although in my view this would be the absolute maximum, with 10km being the better distance limit. The reason I’m stopping at that distance is mainly because the mid sole, while very well performing in my experience, is best suited to shorter distances.
There’s a little too much flex to keep your feet in good condition walking over longer distances – that’s when a higher end, more capable and slightly stiffer mountain running shoe from the likes of Hoka, La Sportiva, Salomon or Inov8 comes in (other brands are available of course and Decathlon have their own ‘ultra distance’ shoes).
The shoes are really light and so you hardly notice you have them on, although they are probably heavier than some brands like Hoka but to be brutally honest, for walking, you don’t need the lightest of light shoes. They flex well when you walk and although they flex a little more than I’d like from a Sport Walking shoe, they are perfectly OK for shorter everyday walks.
So, these are not shoes to buy for a marathon or ultra but then again, you really don’t want to be assuming you can get shoes that can handle that sort of distance at this price point, unless you pick up a higher end brand bargain in a sale. Your shoes should fit the requirements of your activities and longer challenges need more capable shoes, just simply so you don’t damage your feet.
So, in my eyes, these are perfectly fine for those weekday walks of 5-15k that make up the majority of your Sport Walking activity or the bulk of your training for a challenge. They are also really great to wear as everyday shoes, as I’ve used them for, so that you can just head out Sport Walking if the opportunity arises. In fact, we often talk about being dressed for walking so you don’t have to get changed, in order to avoid missing a planned walk and the TR2 is ideal for that.
They look fine with jeans or leisure shorts and you can perfectly easily go for a shorter Sport Walk dressed like that if you want to. What’s important is that you remove obstacles or hindrances to getting out and if that means you do your workout in jeans, a t-shirt and some appropriate trainers, then that’s fine.
For longer Sport Walks at the weekend, I’d always recommend a higher end ultra specific shoe and while this may be a more hefty investment, you’ll get a good return from the protection they’ll give your feet and legs. They’ll also give you more scope with what you can do at the weekend, perhaps venturing into more challenging terrain.
But for many people, their weekend walks will top out at around 15k, which fits within the scope of the TR2 and that means that for a relatively small investment you can get a good off road shoe that can handle all your needs until you reach a point where you want to take your Sport Walking further, perhaps training for a challenge or just increasing your distance.
Final thoughts
What I like so much about the Kiprun TR2 Trail is that they’re an affordable shoe that can get people Sport Walking on trails, without much of an outlay and they can handle most scenarios that ‘weekend warriors’ or those just starting out might look to take on.
They’ll give you good grip so you’re unlikely to slip and their light weight means that you’re free to increase your pace (assuming you don’t weigh yourself down some other way). OK, so the midsole has more flex than I’d be ideally looking for and perhaps the upper could be a little more robust but that’s just me looking at it from my position as an experienced Sport Walker with high performance goals and high performing kit.
For someone perhaps more aligned with our Get Fit Walking program and who wants to be able to take their Sport Walking into the countryside and onto the trails, without any desire to enter a challenge event, these shoes are ideal.
Their affordability alone makes them a strong contender because good gear costs a lot, which is prohibitive and shoes are arguably your most critical piece of kit. So being able to get a lightweight, capable shoe that’s affordable, makes off road Sport Walking so much more accessible.
And at the end of the day, that’s what’s really important. Anything that makes a sport or activity more accessible is a good thing and these shoes do just that. What’s more, they stand up performance wise, as long as you’re sensible about the distance or duration you go walking in them for.
Sport Walk Recommends Grade – 8/10